Shadowed Past
by Savplanet
Summary: Alex Cooper has incredible powers that she's afraid to use. When SHIELD calls her in to possibly join them, can she trust them? When she discovers that her unique ability is the only thing to stop the next global threat, she doesn't know what to think. Her past is nagging and pulling at her, breaking her n Steve change that?(Steve/OC)PART 1/3 Sequel: SP-Visions of Affliction
1. Chapter 1

**Shadowed Past**

**Chapter 1**

_**Hey all! So this chapter will mainly be about how Alex (OC) gets involved with SHIELD. So I'm just putting this out there, she's going to have the powers of Violet from Disney's The Incredibles (total geek I know lol) so basically she can turn invisible and she uses force-fields as her power n stuff. First chapters can seem slow but I promise this info will be helpful for later in the plot! Thanks so much for reading and please review, follow and favorite! :)**_

_**PS- Story is written from Alex's (OC's) POV (sometimes it might switch between third/first person) and it's Post-Avengers. **_

*****I DON'T OWN _THE AVENGERS _OR ANY OF THE CHARATCERS (I wish) AND ONLY THE OC PEOPLE ARE MINE BESIDES THE FACT THAT ALEX'S POWERS/ABILITIES ARE DISNEY'S IDEA*****

***WANRING: This story mild contains mentions of self-harm (mentions about scars, but no actual flash-backs or scenes with the act of self-harm) and downing and depressing talk about it. [Honestly there's not that much mention of it, I'm just putting out a warning just in case]**

**On with the story! XD**

* * *

It's not like anyone said life was going to be easy, right? Well, not for me anyways. I had a shadowed past for a reason. Some people don't realize how hard it is to hide a secret that you're born with. And no, it's not a birth-mark, it's certainly not normal. How many people have you met that have super powers? Right, none. For the record, some days, I honestly wish I didn't have them.

My name is Alex, Alex Cooper. And yes, I'm a girl with a guy's name. Don't judge. I mean, it kind of suits my personality. I have been called a tomboy my whole life, and, fortunately I liked it. It was just my style. And as for my powers, well, only my best friend Piper knew. I loved Piper, she was like the sister I never had, but she's just a little, well, loud. And, crazy, sometimes annoying. But I love her, no matter what. And speak of the devil, my thoughts got scrambled when I heard her voice.

"Alex! It's time to go!"

"Yeah-yeah, I'm coming," I yawned. Piper and I shared an apartment to save money; and we lived in the world famous New York City. Neither of us had a well-paying job, we both had just finished college and this was our first month on our own. I worked at a café down the street as a waitress, and Piper basically was a janitor at the public theater downtown.

"Come on we're gonna be late!"

"I'm slowly progressing my way to the door!" I called back. I looked at myself one last time in the mirror, my long, straight black hair reached my waist and had multiple colored streaks running through it. I was in my usual waitress outfit, which I hated wearing. I usually wore ripped up skinny jeans and combat boots, a faded graphic t-shirt with a band name on it too. I also had a small tattoo running up my left forearm, it said _Forgiven _in small black cursive letters with vines and thorns wrapping around them.

"Alex!" Piper called again, interrupting my thoughts again.

We both got our shoes and jackets on, then headed out the door for another long Monday.

Our usual routine was that we both walked out together and walked about three blocks until we split up to go to our jobs, then we met up at the same spot at the end of the day.

"So, have you heard about those superheroes?" Piper said as we got on the elevator.

"Yeah, who hasn't?"

"Well, I personally think you should join them. Besides, the guy with the shield is really hot."

"Piper only you would say that,"

"Try telling that to his millions of fangirls."

"Piper, I'm not exposing my abilities. If I lived through high school, and college, and now we're starting our lives, and you're the only one who knows, I'm not giving that up now."

"But come on! You'll be famous and besides, you can get hooked up with one of those guys," she smiled, winking.

"Piper, I told you, I don't need a boyfriend right now."

"Oh my gosh yes you do! You just won't admit it. I know that deep down, you would love a guy right now."

I just rolled my eyes and walked out as the elevator opened.

"What?!" she chirped walking out after me.

"Nothing," I chuckled.

"I mean seriously, you have these incredible abilities, you like, freaking shoot force fields from your hands and can turn invisible! But yet, you work as a waitress."

"Piper, you don't understand," I said as we walked through the glass lobby doors out onto the busy morning streets.

"Uh, yeah, I do. You're awesome but you just don't want to admit it."

"Oh my gosh, Pipes, I love you, but, my powers are something that just needs to be kept hidden."

"Why are you so tense all the time?" she asked, sounding like a little kid.

"I'm not tense," I retorted, a slight bit offended.

"You're always worried about something, I mean, you were never like that in high school. You used to be so loose! You would start food fights at lunch, you would even sleep in class and still pass the class with an A, I still never figured out how you did that."

"Magic," I replied, keeping a straight face.

"Als, listen. I love you too, as my non-biological sister, and I just want you to be happy."

"Thanks, Pipes." I did my best to smile so she would drop the subject. We reached our normal split up spot and went off to our jobs. I arrived at the café about three minutes after they'd opened, and got the usual lecture from my boss. He was a schedule-freak, if you were thirty seconds late he would flap his jaws until you wanted to rip both your ears off.

"Hey," my friend Mark said.

"Hi," I exhaled.

"You seem super alive today," he said sarcastically.

"Yeah, thanks, I am." I replied. Piper had always wanted me to date him, but, I don't know, I just never liked him more than a friend.

We got started on our usual morning routine, he ran the cash register and I took orders. I still smiled at everyone I met and was a nice as possible, I never wanted to be rude, I mean, I hated it when people were rude to me so why should I do the same?

* * *

Meanwhile, with SHIELD:

The Avengers had been busy with small side missions, nothing as big as the Chitauri attack had happened since, well The Chitauri attack. They hadn't had to really "assemble" in a while, they all just battled off enemies in their own locations. No one had seen Clint for about a month, or Natasha. Even Bruce had only been heard from like twice in the past three months. Although Steve had been pretty busy in New York, and even Tony seemed to be dropping by a lot now that the Stark Tower was repaired. Thor had been, around, but, he didn't stop by much either. Probably busy with Loki back at home.

Maria and Nick were talking, he had a mission for her.

"How do you know that she has these abilities?" Maria asked.

"Because, I've got enough information to prove that she's the descendent of the girl that Howard Stark preformed an experiment on. According to the experiment files he replaced her genes, therefore, the Miss Cooper that we've been watching should have the exact same abilities being the gene was dominant." Fury replied.

"And why do we need her?"

"I think she'd be a good part of the team. If she's got the same powers that her mother did, then this kid is certainly a lethal weapon."

"Why don't we just get her mother then?"

"She got killed in a car accident when this girl was only a baby, and she never got married. So Miss Cooper was basically raised with her friend Piper."

"Oh," Maria muttered, surprised.

"So, do you mind bringing her in?" Fury asked.

"No problem, sir. I get a team and we'll head out immediately."

* * *

The day seemed to fly by fast for Piper and I, we were already meeting back up to head home; it was around three in the afternoon, but it felt like 10:00pm to us.

"How was your day?" Piper asked as we started to walk back to our apartment.

"The norm, how about you?"

"Same. Nothing new." Piper replied.

"I'm just exhausted," I exhaled.

"I feel ya. Mondays are always miserable."

We talked all the way home, making the time seem to go by faster. Piper put the key into the door knob, turned and opened the door. Piper and I both kept talking on our way in, but we saw a surprise that made us both stop dead in our tracks. Piper even dropped her bag and the apartment keys.

"Who are you?" I stammered, eyeing up the three people who appeared to look like spies that stood in our apartment.

"Agent Hill of SHIELD. Director Fury would like you to come in, Miss Cooper." Maria said, holding up her badge.

"Why me?" I asked, tense. I was having to fight my powers right then and there, I could feel it all the way down to my bones.

"We know about your abilities, Miss Cooper, and we want you to join our team."

Piper almost fan-girl squealed on the spot, but she bit her tongue, she didn't want to completely embarrass herself.

"How do you know anything about me?" I replied, still not completely trusting these people.

Agent Hill handed me a file, and I walked over to the kitchen counter to take the papers out. They were about my mother, experimental files. According to these files, my mother's genes were replaced by scientist Howard Stark, and that's how I got my powers.

"So, would you mind coming with us back to HQ?" Agent Hill asked after the solid minutes of silence had passed while I read the files.

"I guess," I exhaled, shutting the folder. I really didn't want to, but, something was calling me to. Maybe Piper was right. And speaking of Piper...

"OH MY GOSH!" She squealed. "Will any of the Avengers be there?!" she practically screamed.

"Captain Rogers may be there, as well as Mr. Stark but-"

"You had me at Captain!" Piper squealed. She ran into her room and slammed the door.

"What's she doing?" Agent Hill muttered lowly to me.

"She's probably changing her outfit, I'm sorry about her, she can be, a little..."

"It's fine, I completely understand, Miss Cooper." she responded.

* * *

After Piper got changed, we finally left with the SHIELD agents and went back to their HQ building. Leave it to Piper to try and touch everything, so Agent Hill had to run off after her, making sure she didn't break anything. Director Fury talked to me about why they wanted me to join SHIELD in the meantime.

"So, you just want me in because of my abilities?"

"Basically, yes. There are very few people in the world with abilities like this, and whenever we find out about one it's kind of a good thing to get them on the good side before a villain gets ahold of them."

"I understand your point, but, what if I can't do this?" I asked, nervous. I was standing in a fancy HQ building surrounded by spies, and here I was still in a cheesy waitress' outfit from work.

"I think we all, certainly believe you can."

"Can I have a trial or something? Like do you guys have a testing room? Sorry if I'm annoying but, I really just feel uneasy about this. I haven't used my powers in years, I don't even know if I can control them."

"Come with me, we've already got you a suit made and yes, we do have a testing room."

* * *

Fury left me alone after he told me which room my suit was in, which took me ages to find. This place was huge, and I was just hoping and praying Piper wasn't going to blow anything up. I walked into the room to see my suit in a glass case, and I loved it. It was a leather suit with thin rips and tears on the legs and arms, even a few scattered across the abdomen. But instead of being actual holes they were patched up with a deep-colored red fabric. There were even a pair of black leather combat boots with cool buckles on the sides. "Whoa," I exhaled, opening the glass.

After I got the suit on, I met up with Agent Hill at the so-called testing room. It was just a big open room with plexi-glass on all sides so agents could watch. She spoke through the microphone from the other side of the glass, "Alright, Miss Cooper, there will be several prototypes of robots coming from all angles, your job is to take them out in anyway you can."

"I'll try," I swallowed. I heard the robots fire up and first three came up out of the floor. I looked down at my hands, beginning to glow a light purple. I exhaled softly before sprinting right at them and shooting purple force field waves from my hands. I jumped in the air, round-kicking the one's head loose before blowing it up with another force field wave. I turned invisible next, so did my suit, and I jumped on the shoulders of the other robot, re-appearing before ripping it's head off and kicking the body down, throwing a force field down at it before I hit the ground myself. I quickly looked up and rolled to the side since the other robot was charging me. It ran right into the plexi-glass, and I shot more force field waves out of my hands, but that didn't take this one down. I put a force field around myself right before it's fists swung at me, blocking the hits of course. I released the force field around myself and shot more at it until it finally hit the ground. "How was that?" I asked, looking over to see multiple agents stunned.

"You did, excellent," Agent Hill said through the microphone, still shocked.

"Thank you," I responded before walking out.

"Oh my gosh!" I heard Piper scream. By the time I looked to where the sound was coming from she already had her arms around me in a tight hug. "That was so amazing! I told you that you could do it!"

"Pipes! Calm down, but thank you." I said as she finally released me from her tight grasp.

"Wait, you need like a cool superhero name!" Piper squealed.

"I don't know, you got any ideas?" I asked her.

"Um, how about, Force-Fielder? No, no, um, Viper? You're fast like a snake!"

"Piper, thank you, and no offense, but those names are terrible." I chuckled.

"I tried," she smiled.

"What about, Shadow Hunter?" I said.

"Oh! I like that one!"

"Eh, we'll think about it. It's still a rough draft," I smiled.

"Oh, and, there's someone we'd like you to meet." Agent Hill said. She stepped out of the way, and Piper almost passed out, it was the one and only Captain America.

* * *

**_That's a wrap! I hope you all liked it and please review, follow and favorite! ;) Thank you all so so so much for reading! I'll have the next chapter up as soon as possible! :D_**


	2. Chapter 2

**Shadowed Past**

**Chapter 2**

_**Hello! Lol. Just wanted to thank you all so much for reading, following, favorite-ing and reviewing! I'm trying my best to not make any of the characters too OOC, sorry if I am! Anyways, here's chapter two! :) Please review n stuff! Enjoy! ;D**_

"Miss Cooper," Steve said politely, holding out his hand.

"Mr. Rogers," I replied, shaking his hand.

"Just call me Steve," he smiled.

"And you can call me Alex," I said. I honestly wasn't liking this whole "Miss Cooper" thing. I hated being called "Miss", it just reminded me that I was single. Piper was right earlier, it did get to me. I honestly wasn't sure why no boy had ever asked me out. Prom night in high school, Piper dragged me there against my will, I just ended up leaving anyways.

As my thoughts continued to wander I realized that Piper was right, this guy was flat out gorgeous. When Piper crossed my thoughts I looked over at her, for a second, I thought she wasn't breathing. "Piper, ahem, Piper, I said, hitting her arm. She still didn't move. "I'm so sorry about her, she's just, she's seen a lot in one day, plus, she's just, Piper," I chuckled.

"It's fine," He replied. "It happens way more than you think. So I hear you're going to be, "working" here? I guess that's how I should put it..."

"Yes, I believe I am," I smiled. Maria quietly snuck off with the other agents, and they even took Piper. I was doomed. I couldn't talk to a guy to save my life. And I wasn't sure how to talk to this guy, he was one of the most famous superheroes ever known, did I call him sir? Did I act cool?

"Well, welcome to the team. I promise you'll like it here. Takes a little but of getting used to, but it ends up alright."

"That's good to know," I replied. I was making a complete fool of myself, wasn't I? "Wait, you didn't see that, did you?"

"I did, actually," he smiled.

Oh my word even his smile was gorgeous. "Oh, haha, totally not me, that was my twin, Amber." I teased. He actually laughed at my joke.

"Why aren't you taking credit for, that? I mean, those were some really good moves. And, how did you get those purple things to shoot out of your hands?"

"Genetically, I'm a freak. And seriously? Wow, I thought I was just kind of, I don't know, taking everything out. Like, oh, you touch me you die so I'll just blow your face off."

He laughed again at my comment. "You are hilarious, Alex."

"Why thank you," I said acting like some kind of drama queen. Now I know what Piper meant by loose. I used to always be the class clown, and I was even voted best comedian in the yearbook for freshman year. But, ever since the studies piled on with the stress, I don't know, I guess I just kind of got lost from hiding in my own shell.

"So, you're from around here?" he asked.

"Yeah, just down town actually. How about you?"

"Oh, I grew up in Brooklyn," he said with what I saw as a depressed tone.

"That's cool," I replied with a little smile. I knew that his version of Brooklyn was way different than my version of Brooklyn.

"Wait, I think I've seen you before, don't you work at that café?"

"Yeah, waitress. Not the most fun job in the world."

"I'm just saying because I think I saw you the other day, I recognized the hair,"

"Oh, thanks, it's been like this as long as I can remember."

Steve and I talked for what felt like hours before finally Piper caught back up with us.

"Oh my gosh, you're actually breathing!" I said sarcastically.

"Yes, I am." she said. "And, I'm terribly sorry about earlier, I just, kind of, lost my train of thought," Piper said, blushling slightly.

"It's quite alright, Miss Piper." Steve replied.

Our conversation was then interrupted by none other than Tony Stark. "Hey, capsicle, are you going to keep flirting with the ladies or take that next mission call. I've worked way to much in one day."

"Your definition of work and my definition of work are two totally different things," Steve replied.

"Oh, I know. Besides, who's this?" Tony asked, pointing to me.

"I'm Alex," I said as politely as I could.

"Tony," he replied. Piper was about to pass out again. "Is there something wrong with your friend or what?"

"Oh, she's just, a bit, excited, she's, well I don't think she was planning to meet two superheroes in one day."

"Ah, fan-girl. Never gets old." Tony replied.

"Piper, can you at least blink?" I said. No response. "Piper!" I shouted, snapping in her ear. That woke her up.

"Did I do it again?!" she jumped.

"Yes!" I hissed. Piper could embarrass me sometimes, but I understood that she didn't do it on purpose.

"Sorry!" she said, embarrassed as well by her own actions.

"Wait, so are you like, that girl joining us or something?" Tony asked.

"I guess I am," I said, still trying to absorb the fact that I was talking to _the_ Tony Stark.

"Cool," he replied. "So capsicle, you going or what?"

"What's the problem this time?" Steve replied. He was still funny about Tony, he didn't mind him, but he wasn't his favorite person in the world.

"Something about robbery, hostages, you get the point."

"Alright, I got this one,"

"No! Wait! Can I go?" I jumped in. I wanted to kick some butt, why not?

"Um, yeah, I guess that's okay, they didn't exactly tell you not to stay here," Steve replied.

"Sweet!" I replied. "Ah-hem, I mean, cool."

"Smooth," Piper chuckled.

"Haha, so funny." I replied sarcastically.

"Alright, let's get going, just follow my lead," Steve said.

"Bye! Don't die on me!" Piper called.

"Don't blow anything up!" I called back.

"No promises!"

Tony just looked at Piper with a concerned look. "What? I'm accident prone."

* * *

At the bank where the hostages were, police cars were scattered everywhere.

"What's the status?" Steve asked a cop.

"They've got cameras everywhere, they see anyone approach the building and they blow everyone up."

"Sounds like this one's for me," I said softly.

"Who they heck are you?" The cop asked me.

"At the moment, I'm considered a Shadow Hunter, but, I'm working on the name."

"Whatever kid," he hissed.

"Look," I snipped. "Don't make me get angry,"

"As long as no one here dies, I honestly don't care."

I calmed myself so I wouldn't kill _him. _I just turned invisible on the spot and began my march towards the building.

"Be careful," I heard Steve mutter as I walked by.

"I got this," I muttered back.

I ran to the back of the building and crawled through one of the broken windows from the break in. I made my way to the room with the hostages as quickly as possible. There were two guards, one counting the money, the other watching the hostages holding a gun. I simply walked up behind the guard holding the gun, ripped the gun from his palm and bashed the gun against his skill, causing him to collapse. I heard all of the people gasp, and the other guy looked up from counting the money.

"Hey! Who did that?!" he snipped.

I showed myself; still holding the gun. I spun the revolver and heard the click, then aiming the weapon right between his eyes. "Let the people go, drop the cash, and no one gets hurt."

"Make me," he said, slipping a gun out from under the desk, shooting at me. I dodged the bullets and shot at him once, missed. I slipped the gun in my back pocket and began to shoot force fields at him. I even used force fields to shield myself when he shot bullets at me. This fight was going no where. He wasn't getting hurt, and neither was I. I finally got ahold of my gun yet again and began shooting. I finally struck him in the shoulder, causing him to drop his gun.

"Okay! I surrender! Just stop!" he practically cried. I didn't want to kill anyone, I just needed to teach him a lesson.

The police barged in seconds after he said that. I began untying the people and then Steve walked in. He had done some fighting himself, his suit was covered in dirt and scratches were on his face.

"God bless you," a woman thanked me. I swear, hearing 'Thank You', 'God Bless You', and/or a combination of both over forty times is more annoying than you think. I know they all meant well, but still.

"Good job," Steve said, patting me on the back.

"Thanks," I said. His hand was so big it covered up about 75% of my entire back. I felt so small next to him, he was even way taller than me.

"What?" he asked, since he could tell I was holding something back.

"Okay, I'm apologizing in advance for this but, OH MY GOSH THAT WAS AWESOME!" I screamed jumping up and down.

"Apology accepted," he laughed.

* * *

Later that night, Piper and I stayed up for what felt like years talking. None the less it was a Monday night, we had work in the morning.

"Wait, so, are you going to work tomorrow?"

"Well, yeah," I replied. "I can't just quit, I need to pay my rent on this house too you know. I'll just have to tell Fury that."

"Okay," Piper replied. I was finishing up the dinner dishes, yes, at one in the morning, that was our classical drill; and Piper was on the couch eating some popcorn. "Now tell me, how did your first superhero rescue go?"

"Oh my gosh it was so fun! I took that guy out like cake! Well, two guys, and then Steve was so nice! And-"

"Whoa, whoa, you're talking about a boy..." Piper froze. "Spill the deets!" She squealed.

"Psh, deets, what deets? I don't know what you mean by, "deets"..."

"Yes you do! Oh my gosh you like him!"

"Piper, no, please, don't start with this again," I said, blushing.

"You're blushing!" she cooed.

"It's hot in here!" I jokingly snipped, holding up a soap-covered spoon pointing to her face like I was scolding her.

"It's cold actually!" She retorted.

"How would you know? Your wearing a sweatshirt!" I yelled and laughed simultaneously. We were somewhat arguing, but we were laughing at the same time. Typical Monday. "Do you like chicken?" I tried to change the subject.

"Hey! Don't you go south on me!"

"I already did thank you very much!" I snipped again.

"Since when?" Piper asked, crossing her arms.

"Since now!" I called. "Pipes! Drop, it!"

"And for the record, I prefer turkey." she replied. We went silent for a moment before we started laughing. "Okay, okay, whew, now, let's talk about this seriously. Do you like him?"

"I don't know, I can't really say yet, I mean, I haven't got to know him yet."

"Okay, well, do you think he's attractive?"

I stopped washing a plate and looked up at her with a dead face. "No, not at all." I said sarcastically.

She snickered, "I'll take that as a yes, um, alright, did he touch you?"

I just looked up at her with a look that said _seriously?_

"Not like, THAT, but, like, nudge you, pat your back, hold your hand, hug, like, friendly nudge stuff."

"Um, well, he patted me on the back, but,"

"That's a sign!" Piper practically yelled.

"Shh! We can't afford another noise complaint bill right now!" I hissed.

"Oh, right, haha sorry," Piper chuckled.

"It's fine, just saying." I chuckled back.

"Okay, so, he patted you on the back...that's a sign!"

"Oh, and before I walked into the 'crime scene' he told me to be careful."

"That's a sign for friendship," Piper added.

"Are you sure? I mean, I'm pretty sure anyone would say that."

"I don't know..." Piper yawned.

"Come on, let's call it a night." I yawned too. "I'll take the couch tonight,"

"Okay, night." she replied, walking into the bedroom.

"Night," I replied.

* * *

The next day, I could barely keep my focus. I messed up about three orders in ten minutes. I knew I was going to get lectured for this one. But I tried my best to keep my focus, I just couldn't get over the fact that I was a member of SHIELD, and, I was considered superhuman...it just felt like a dream. I've always known that I've been superhuman, but, I've never actually had the chance to show the world that.

"Cooper! Stop day-dreaming and get out there!" My boss snapped.

"Sorry, sir!" I called back.

I went back to taking orders and the usual, when I looked up and saw the clock, I only had twenty minutes left on my shift. This had to be the best Tuesday ever.

* * *

Back at the apartment, I got changed as quick as possible before rushing to the SHIELD building. Piper decided to stay back at "home", which surprised me. She probably was going to go out with her boyfriend but just wouldn't admit it.

At SHIELD, nothing happened. There weren't any missions they were calling in for 'superhuman help' I guess you could say.

"So like, how does this work, do we only come in when they call us?" I asked Steve, who was walking through the halls with me since we literally had nothing to do.

"That's how I roll, but, I don't know. We all choose differently. We haven't seen the others for months, I mean, everyone has plans, right?"

"Yeah," I chuckled.

"So, um, speaking of plans, I was wondering, do you have any Friday night?"

"Not that I know of," I smiled. _Wait, was he asking me out on a date?_

"Okay, that's good, I was just wondering if you wanted to hang out, or something..." he trailed off. I noticed a small blush on cheeks; mine felt like they were on fire.

"Sure, I think that would be fun." I smiled again.

"Really? I mean, um, okay, great, I guess, I'll pick you up at seven?"

"Um, yeah! Sure, totally, do you need my address?" I smiled. I couldn't believe that this was happening.

"That might be necessary," Steve chuckled shyly as I walked over to a table and grabbed a notepad and a pen, they were just ironically sitting there. I scribbled down the address quickly and handed it to him.

"I'm not trying to be nosy or anything, but, may I ask where we're going?" I asked; I hated surprises...with a burning passion.

"You'll see," he smiled.

"Darn," I whispered.

"Hey, I promise you'll enjoy it."

"Thanks," I grinned. I looked at the clock on the wall, "Oh boy, I better get back to Piper, she can't cook dinner to save her life."

"Alright, well I see you tomorrow at that meeting then?"

"Wait, what meeting?"

"You didn't get the, um, the thing that makes your phone buzz..."

"A text message?"

"Yeah, that thing!"

"Um, no, I don't have a phone. Piper and I can't afford a phone bill."

"Do you know how do work one?"

"Yeah, I guess. Depends."

"I've been dying to ask someone this," he said pulling out an iPhone, "How do I make the screen bright again? Tony turned it super dark to try and prove that I'm terrible with technology, and he's right, but now I can't get it back to bright again."

"Here, let me." I chuckled. "So, once you unlock it, you just swipe up like this, and see the little bar thing?" I asked.

"Yeah,"

"Well, you just swipe that to the right and it should brighten up," I said, making the screen bright again.

"Whoa! Thanks!"

I had to laugh at his reaction.

"What?" He asked, curious as to why I was literally dying of laughter.

"Nothing, nothing, I've just never seen somebody get that excited about the brightness of their iPhone screen."

"Well, I'm, new, to this," He chuckled holding up the phone before slipping it in his pocket.

"I get it, I still remember the day in the news when they found you in the ice, I can imagine that you're a little behind on stuff."

"Yeah," he sighed.

"Don't worry, you'll get the hang of it." I looked up and our eyes met. I didn't move mine, and he didn't move his.

"I know this is completely random, but, you have really pretty eyes..." Steve trailed off.

"Oh, um, thanks," I said shyly.

"Yeah, just, didn't notice the purple..."

"Yep, like I said, genetic freak." I chuckled. "Well, I see ya tomorrow," I grinned before I waved and walked off.

"Bye, Als," he smiled.

* * *

When I got home, I opened the door to Piper lying on the floor gripping her abdomen.

"Piper! What happened?!" I practically shouted, rushing over to her.

"I, I'm dying of hunger..."

"Piper! You gave me a heart attack!" I shouted, hitting her on the arm as she chuckled. "I thought you were actually dying!"

"I am!" she whined, getting up as I walked over to the fridge.

"Well, this will revive you for sure," I said, pausing.

"What?" she said eagerly.

"He asked me out!" I squealed.

At first she didn't know what to say, but then she linked her hands with mine and we both fan-girl squealed for what felt like eons.

"How?! When?!" she squeaked.

"Like, just a little bit ago before I came back to see you!"

She started squealing again. "When? Like, when is the date?"

"Friday,"

"We are getting you a dress!"

"Oh please no," I muttered.

"It'll be fun! Tomorrow after work?"

"I can't, there's some meeting or something."

"Oh," Piper said, a little upset.

"How about we go _after_ the meeting?"

"What if it's late?"

"Are you kidding me, stores stay open until midnight around here."

"Okay, yay!" she squealed. "So, sounds like you two are official?"

"Well, I wouldn't say that..." I blushed.

"Oh, before we get into that discussion, this came for you in the mail," she said, handing me a envelope with the SHIELD logo on it.

"Hm, wonder what this is..." I said, slicing the envelope open. I pulled out a fine-printed letter and began to read it.

"Well?" she asked.

"Um, it's...look at this," I muttered. I felt a slow and treacherous wave of concern ignite in my head and shoot down to my toes.

"It stays, _New threat recognized: mysterious enemy continues to send life threatening letters to SHIELD claiming that they, 'will take out every staff member one by one and then every avenger one by one.'"_

"Alex, do you think this is real?"

"Well, yeah, they sent it to me, and there's ironically a meeting tomorrow?"

"This is true," Piper exhaled.

"This is a lot, I'm not reading this whole thing right now. Come on, let's get something to eat." I said grabbing my jacket.

"Yay!" Piper said darting to the couch to grab her coat. "Where are we going?"

"Your pick," I chuckled as we walked out the door.

That letter stayed in my mind, even though I tried to ignore it. SHIELD never sent out a notification to reunite all the avengers unless something serious was going down. I was officially terrified for that meeting.

_**That's a wrap! I hope you all liked it and please review, favorite and follow! Thanks so much for reading and I'll have the next chapter up as soon as possible! :D**_


	3. Chapter 3

**Shadowed Past **

**Chapter 3**

**_Hey everyone! Thanks so much for the reviews, follows, favorites and just reading the story! I never thought I would have this many follows so fast...Anyways, hope you enjoy the chapter and please keep on reviewing and all that! :D Oh, and haha woops, forgot the disclaimers in the last chapter :p My bad lol_**

*******I DON'T OWN _THE AVENGERS_ OR ANY OF THE CHARATCERS (I wish) AND ONLY THE OC PEOPLE ARE MINE BESIDES THE FACT THAT ALEX'S POWERS/ABILITIES ARE DISNEY'S IDEA*******

The next day, I had to leave work at the café early for the meeting. My palms were shaky and sweaty, my nerves on end...it almost felt like the feeling I'd have if I was walking straight for death itself without putting up any fight. Just letting it surround me and beat me down. It even felt harder to breathe, like someone had a noose around my neck and was pulling it tighter.

After I was inside the SHILED building, I found Steve waiting for me, a smiled spread wide across his face.

"Hey," I whispered, trotting up to him. I had a large tan coat wrapped around my waitress' outfit, which I hated that I was still wearing, but I didn't have time to change.

"You ready?" he asked.

"Not really," I responded. We started walking towards the conference room when the ground began to shake.

"That's either Thor or Banner..." Steve muttered. There was a roll of thunder off in the distance not long after he spoke. "Yep, it's Thor."

"Wait, so, do, um, do they know about me?" I asked nervously. I was nervous about the news that was going to be delivered at the meeting, and just the fact I was going to meet _all_ of The Avengers.

"Yeah, I'm sure Fury sent them that in the letter...probably, honestly, I don't know." he chuckled.

"Oh no..." I gulped.

"You'll be fine, _Miss Cooper_," he said formally, holding the door open for me. I smiled slightly before walking in. I looked up to see lots of eyes looking back at me.

Everything in the room froze, no one spoke, my breath paused. Until, leave it to Tony to break the silence, "See! What did I tell you guys, huh?"

"Um, hi," I said shyly. This was one of those moments when mentally, your brain basically forgot everyday commands like breathing, and blinking.

"Miss Cooper, just take a seat anywhere," Fury said, who was sitting at one end of the table.

"Um, yes, of course, sir," I said silently. Everyone was in casual clothes, so thank gosh I had this coat. I walked over to a seat next to Agent Hill, and there was an empty seat beside mine which Steve took of course.

"Okay, now that we're all here, I guess we should get started." Fury said, looking up at Steve and I. I quickly glanced down. We weren't late, so I don't see why everyone was looking at us why we where. Just because you're last doesn't mean that you're late.

"So, SHIELD has reassembled you all for a life threatening reason. Terrorists have created a new enemy, one much worse than the Chitauri. They are genetically altered humans appearing harmless, like any other person. But these people are demons, they have no soul, and they certainly have no tolerance."

"So, we just take them out like always. Not an issue." Natasha said calmly.

"That's the problem, the gene makes them almost indestructible, and only certain powers will be able to destroy them completely."

"Like what powers?" Natasha asked.

"Like the powers that Miss Cooper wields," Fury said, pointing to me.

Everyone turned to look at me. I never dealt well under pressure. "Um, hi," I said as casual as I could.

"Well, what can she do?" Bruce asked.

"Go on, just show them a small one," Agent Hill said.

"Um, okay, if you say so, I just kinda, do this," I chuckled softly, holding up my hands up and making a small purple force field ball appear in front of my face. "Well, I mean, I can, do way more than just this, I kind of just, use them, I honestly don't know how to put it. But, Director Fury, why me?" I asked, resting my hands and letting the purple blub disappear.

"It's your genes, the force fields contain a certain molecule that is invincible against the molecule in the genetically altered people. So your fields would instantly take them out."

"I'm still getting help, right sir? I think taking out a few robbers is much easier than...this." I said, getting nervous, like I was the entire heart and soul of this fight for my side of the battle.

"Of course, we can't let you out alone just yet."

"Thank gosh," I whispered to myself.

The meeting went on for a while, the plan of attack was discussed and when these mysteriously altered people were supposed to begin showing up in New York. We only had a few days until the threat letter claimed they would be released into the city. That didn't calm my nerves at all.

After the meeting, I ended up greeting everyone. I thought that Thor was literally going to rip my hand off he shook it so hard. Tony kept making jokes about everything, Natasha kept giving Steve looks and muttering stuff to him-it was probably about me, and Bruce kept asking me really complicated questions about my abilities; some that I couldn't even answer. And Clint just kind of talked normally to me for a minute or two before just walking out.

"So, was it that bad?" Steve asked me as we walked out of the room after everyone had parted their ways for the day.

"Um, I don't know, this entire mission is basically dependent on me, that's not a surprise at all!" I said sarcastically.

"I'm sure everything will be fine. It's not like you're going in alone. And besides, have you knocked out Hitler over 200 times?"

"What?"

"Nothing," he chuckled.

"But I have to take them all out! I mean you guys can only stall them! I don't think I'm ready to take out who knows how many enemies?!"

"It'll be alright, I promise," Steve said.

"How do you know? Can you see the future?"

"I won't let anything happen to you." He said with a small smirk on his face. I just smiled back at him for a second before realizing that I needed to get back to Piper.

* * *

Back at the apartment, Piper was all dressed and ready to go; and I was still in my waitress uniform.

"Come on! Let's go!" She cheered with excitement.

"Hold on, Pipes, let me get changed," I chuckled walking towards the bedroom. I ended up slipping on a pair of light blue ripped skinny jeans, a black t-shirt with an old faded band name across the front and an old pair of black DC shoes.

"Now you see, this is why some boys have avoided you," Piper said after I walked out.

"What do you mean?" I replied, slightly offended but yet I reminded myself, this was Piper talking here.

"Because, you don't show off anything. That's what boys like if you know what I mean," she said nudging me.

"Well, I want someone to like me for who I am, not what I look like." I replied, confident in my defense. And it was truthful too. I never wanted to "show off", I personally didn't think it was necessary.

"Oh, Als, you have so much to learn about being a girl."

"Uh, no, I don't. I know plenty. Be yourself and the right one will come. I myself prefer dressing as a tomboy and/or a punk rocker sometimes, and I like that."

"So, don't you want to do what boys want?"

"No, because then I'm just putting on an act and the real personality that I was blessed with has been locked away in a cage."

"Als, but,"

"I'm just saying, Pipes," I said with a smile.

"Oh, fine, you caught me again." Piper muttered.

"I'm not trying to make you feel bad or anything, I'm simply just stating my opinion."

"I know, I know." she smiled slightly.

"Now come on, let's go. You can doll me up for a day."

"You don't know how long I've dreamed of this day! Piper squealed.

"One question, can we go to a salon?"

"Oh please no, that's too far. No nails, no hair. The hair is staying, Pipes."

"Darn..." she muttered.

We both made our way to the door and headed out. We didn't have much money, so we had to stay in the cheaper stores, which, actually had some nice looking clothes. I ended up trying on around forty dresses, and I still didn't like any of them. Piper and I decided to go to another store, and we had lots of more luck there.

* * *

"Oh! Pipes! I like this one!" I called from inside the dressing room.

"Let me see!" she chuckled. I walked out in my bare feet with the dress on. It was one with a black silky skirt that reached a little above the knees in the front, but was lower in the back. The top half was white, and a black belt was going around my ribcage. "I like it!" Piper smiled.

"Me too, it's not too showy, not to elegant, it's in the middle. It is a tad fancy, but I think I can live."

"Yay! Now time for shoes."

"Pipes, it's almost six and we haven't had dinner yet."

"I don't care, shoes before food."

I just groaned and said, "Pipes, you know more about matching than I do, so go try and find me a pair of matching shoes."

"Okay!" she called, walking out. She came back in what felt like a matter of seconds with three pairs of heels.

"Oh no, not heels."

"Yes, heels. Come one, these are only four and a half inches..."

"Four and half?! Piper, I can barely walk around with flat shoes!"

"Just, try them! I promise you'll like them."

"Fine, Piper. I need to get paid for this," I muttered stepping into the four and half high black wedge heels. I almost tripped over myself twice, and finally regained my balance.

"See, they look nice," Piper said proudly.

"I can't feel my ankles."

"You'll be fine."

"No, no, no," I said stepping out of the heels. "No heels. I'm just going to wear flats. Oh my gosh I sound so girly..."

"You should be proud!"

"Psh, yeah, right," I chuckled. Piper just rolled her eyes and took the heels back. I ended up getting a pair of plain black flats to go with the dress. I made a mental note to never agree to go shopping ever again. That was worse than prom night, and that was bad.

* * *

That night, back at the apartment, Piper had fallen asleep on the couch and I was lying silently on the bed. I kept making small purple force field bulbs in the air, then letting them release into thin air. My mind wandered as I just kept thinking. It had only been a matter of days and so much had happened. But now I had to worry about the fact that the world was dependent on _me _to win this battle, a battle that they didn't even know about. And, honestly, I really didn't think I could do it. I mean maybe, but, I would probably die trying. If my powers were the only things that could completely kill these freakish humans, then, these people might as well kiss New York goodbye.

* * *

The next thing I knew, it was Friday morning, and I was scared out of my mind. Sure, I was eager about spending some time with Steve, but, I didn't know what to say, did I just act causal? That was my plan. I just hoped the surprise wasn't a fancy restaurant, I had no manners. Plus I got really loud without realizing it all the time. And of course, the day flew by. Every time I seemed nervous about something, or if I was just dreading it to come, it would come way faster than when I was eager for something. It just didn't make sense.

When Piper helped me to my hair, she kept wanting to curl it, and I refused. I liked my hair straight with all the colors. It had taken way too long to grow it down to my waist and I didn't want to do anything with it. After she got me all dolled up, she took my picture like nine times. The last few were just pictures of me screaming and swatting at the camera. Yeah, I'll show those to my kids someday.

Suddenly the there was a soft knock on the door, and Piper and I both froze. "He's here!" Piper whispered with a massive smile.

"Now, go into the bedroom, and don't you dare come out!" I laughed softly pushing her into the room. She quietly pulled the door shut as I walked over to answer to door. I inhaled a deep breath before opening the door.

"Hey," Steve smiled.

"Hi," I replied. "Um, you can, come in," I chuckled.

"Oh, yeah, thanks," He smiled, walking in.

"Sorry, it's a bit messy, Piper and I don't really worry about, cleaning, that much. We usually don't have visitors." I chuckled awkwardly.

"It's fine, Alex. Trust me compared to where I live this place is spotless."

"I'm sure it's not-"

"Hi Steve!" Piper yelped jumping out of the bedroom.

"Piper!" I mouthed, angry. She just ignored me and kept talking.

"So, how was your day? Now should I warn about Alex?"

"I'm sorry?" he asked, confused. When he looked at me I just smiled. After he turned back to look at Piper and started making threating movements again.

"Well you know, she's just a little, loud, sometimes, and-"

"Piper! Thank you but _I don't think that's necessary_," I said through clenched teeth.

"Oh, okay, don't be gone too long you two," she smiled, winking at me.

My hands started glow purple with rage. "Piper, don't, move,"

"Okay, um, Alex, why don't we get going?" Steve asked putting his hand on my shoulder and trying to lead me towards the door.

"Sorry," I said, slowly calming down.

"No, I should be the sorry one," Piper sighed. "I was supposed to stay in the bedroom."

"No, Pipes, it's cool. You were just trying to have a little fun, I get it. I'm the one who's too tense around here," I smiled.  
Hug?"

Piper hugged me quickly before Steve and I left, and my nerves came rushing back as soon as we were alone.

"Where are we going?" I asked when we got into the elevator.

"You'll see," He smiled.

"I hate surprises..." I muttered.

"I promise you'll like this one."

It was silent for a moment, until Steve finally broke it. "You look, amazing," he smiled.

"Oh, um, thanks, Piper helped," I chuckled.

"And how did that go?" he asked as we walked out through the lobby.

"Let's just say, well, I, um, it, it took awhile."

"I'm not even going to ask."

"Good plan." I replied.

* * *

Steve and I walked for what felt like hours, but was probably only minutes. Steve blindfolded me and after climbing tons of stairs, he took my blindfold off, and we were up on top of an old abandoned building by the water. The full moon lit up everything like a gigantic white spotlight, and personally, I loved it. We were alone, away from the city, and a beautiful night skyline.

"It's, beautiful," I smiled.

"Not as pretty as your smile,"

"Oh, gosh, thanks," I smiled again. That was unexpected. We sat on the roof edge and dangled our feet over the edge. "Wow, I got all dressed up...that's not embarrassing." I said sarcastically.

"Still, I'm impressed, you got into a dress, that was a big step for you."

"Yeah, I guess so." I chuckled. I was leaning on my right arm and resting my head on my shoulder. I suddenly felt cold, but, I didn't want to be all classical and say I was cold, that seemed to happen on like every date in the movies, and I really didn't want to just say it period. I hated asking people for stuff.

"Hey, what's on your arm?" Steve asked, noticing multiple scars all over my right wrist and forearm. I quickly pulled my arm to my chest.

"Nothing," I said nervously. The scars were old, I guess you could say I had quite a dark past. I used to cut, and, I totally regretted it now, don't get me wrong, but, I still hated when people asked, because, then it made me think about it. Steve probably had never even heard of self-harm yet to top it off.

"No, I saw marks on your arm, let me see," he said with a small hint of stern in his voice. Who was I kidding, I was busted. I slowly held out my arm and showed him the scars.

"See, just old marks, I used to have a problem, it's all over now," I sighed putting my arm down.

"Problem? You mean you did that to yourself? With what?" Steve said like a clueless child.

"Anything sharp,"

"Why?"

"Like I said, I had a problem, I guess I just thought it was the right thing to do at the time..."

"I still don't understand..."

"It's okay, trust me, my past is one long and depressing story."

"I've got time," he said.

"Oh fine, I'll give you the short round. Basically, my mother's pregnancy, wasn't intentional...she was, you know..."

"The r word?"

"Yeah...and, then she died in a car accident when I was a baby, so, Piper's mother took me in and that's kind of how we met. I just lived with her family my whole life, they treated me like another kid in their house, and, Piper was like my sister. But, I don't know, I guess I just got upset when I got to be a teenager and understood what really happened, and, I started to cut, and that's how I got these..."

"Alex..."

"So, yeah. That's, kind of my life in a nutshell." I exhaled. I could feel tears in my eyes, but refused to let them fall.

"I'm sorry, about, everything..." Steve trailed off, not really sure what to say.

"Why are you sorry? Some people just have hard lives, it's fine."

"No, it's not fine. That was probably the most depressing story I've ever heard, and that more negative fact is that it's true."

"Hey, I still live, right? I mean, I got help and I'm okay now, just, a little worried about, saving the world and stuff, woohoo!" I said sarcastically.

Steve didn't really respond to my attempt at changing the topic. I think he was still trying to process everything he'd just heard. "Alex, hear me out when I say I'll always be there for you,"

"Thanks," I smiled softly. Before I could speak again, he had pulled me into a hug.

"I promise,"

"Thank you, and just because I'm a little broken doesn't mean I'm completely shattered, right?"

He pulled back and looked into my eyes.

"You're a real trooper, you know that?"

"Hey, I didn't fight in the world war, now did I?"

* * *

_**Ta-da! :D I hope you guys liked it! And I just didn't say the "r" word for two reasons, one, I really feel uncomfortable saying/typing it since it's such an awful thing, and two, I don't think Alex would say it, or Steve (like as characters) so yeah. And sorry if I'm making the anybody too OOC...I may not be but I don't know, I'm paranoid. XD Please follow, favorite and REVIEW! :D Thanks so much for reading and I'll get the next chapter up as soon as I possibly can! ;)**_


	4. Chapter 4

**Shadowed Past **

**Chapter 4**

_**Hey guys! :p I'm so sorry it's taken me so long to update but I have literally been insanely busy with homework to review for final exams and UUGGHGHH! X/ But anyways, thanks so much for reading, following, reviewing, and favorite-ing! :D Please keep all that up and thanks for staying with the story! Enjoy! XD**_

_**PS-This chapter is going to switch to third person when there's a scene or two being described and Alex isn't actually there. I'll be sure to label them! ;)**_

*********I DON'T OWN _THE AVENGERS_ OR ANY OF THE CHARATCERS (I wish) AND ONLY THE OC PEOPLE ARE MINE BESIDES THE FACT THAT ALEX'S POWERS/ABILITIES ARE DISNEY'S IDEA*********

After Steve walked me back home, I could tell Piper was about to burst with questions. I was afraid she was going to seriously lose it and start screaming she was so excited. Seconds after Steve left, I swear she was going to explode.

"Before you say anything, we DID NOT kiss!" I snipped.

"Darn it," she muttered, instantly getting a frown on her face.

"I'm sorry, but I really don't think kissing will be happening anytime soon," I chuckled at her response.

"I know, I just had my hopes up. I'm just really happy for you,"

"Thanks." I smiled.

"Anything for my sister." She smiled back.

My smile faded a little, and Piper noticed.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, I just, Steve kind of, he, he noticed, my arms,"

"He did?" Piper asked flatly, she wasn't shocked, but yet she had a tone of sympathy in her voice.

"Yeah," I sighed.

"I'm sorry, we should've gotten you a jacket too, huh?"

I just shrugged my shoulders. I didn't really want to talk. I never really shared anything with anyone, especially my past. And the fact that I didn't share _all_ of my past with Steve made me feel even worse.

"So, what did you tell him?"

"I said about Mom, and how you guys took me in, and then I said about how I cut, and that's it."

"That's all?" she asked.

"Yeah, I, I didn't really feel like talking about the other stuff, if you know what I mean,"

"No, totally, I understand. You want anything to eat? Oh, my bad you guys probably just ate,"

"Um, no, I'll get something. We didn't eat actually..."

"But, where did you go?"

"He took me to this old warehouse and by the water and we sat on the roof and talked, just looked at the full moon."

"Aw, he really does know you,"

"Yeah, and I've known him for how many days?" I said sarcastically.

"Oh that doesn't matter. It's obvious he really likes you,"

"Um, yeah, I mean, we went on a date doesn't that prove anything?"

"No, like, he seriously, _likes _you...I can't explain it. You'll know what I mean once he proposes."

"Piper, you're nuts."

"I'm just saying, and one day when you come home practically crying with a ring on your finger I'll have one thing to say, well, two actually, congrats and I told you so."

"Keep dreaming," I chuckled, walking over to the pantry.

"Now come on, why do you do that to yourself?"

"Do what?" I said, still digging for food.

"You just can't ever seem to picture yourself with a happy ending involving a guy." Piper said walking over to me.

"And I deserve a happy ending because..."

"Oh my gosh, Alex. I give up." Piper sighed.

* * *

The next day, I had to take off work; Piper decided to take a day off too. Fury made us all be at the SHEILD building bright and early to watch for any signs of the attack. Just because the letter said a few days didn't mean anything. In the hallway, Natasha pulled me aside and started talking to me, she seemed way nicer than yesterday, which kind of surprised me.

"So, I hear Steve took you on a date last night?" she smiled.

"Well I we basically just hung out, I mean nothing fancy or anything, but, do you mind me asking how you know?"

"Oh, I heard him asking Stark questions earlier. I mean, they hardly ever talk, so when I heard them talking without trying to kill each other I was curious."

"Did you hear anything that he asked?"

"Not much, but I'm seriously going to ask him later."

"Oh no..." I muttered.

"Hey, no worries, I won't even mention that we had this conversation. And oh, by the way, don't worry about having to take down all those genetic freaks by yourself, we got your back."

"Thanks," I smiled.

"See ya around,"

"Yeah, see ya." I said almost flatly. I kept on walking my direction and she went hers. I got a good way down the hall before I heard someone else coming...no, two people. I heard voices. I quickly turned invisible with fear and put by back to the wall, and made sure not to make a sound.

"I don't know, Tony, what do you think I should do? Be all classical and by flowers and candy?"

It was Steve, I recognized that voice anywhere.

"Steve, you're just worked up about it. Just do what you did before, just talk and do whatever. I don't really know the kid so I don't know what to tell you. If you're telling me she's a tomboy, then just ask her crazy friend what she likes to do, and boom, everything will be fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, now can we please stop talking about it? I mean seriously capsicle we've got world-saving to do, you can worry about your girlfriend later."

"I know, I'm just worried about her, if she gets hurt I won't know what to do."

They stopped right in front of me; I felt my heart jump and my throat tighten. If I made the simplest noise of a small breath, I was busted.

"Steve, everything will be fine. Now drop it, please. I seriously think that being frozen for that long has officially gotten to your head."

They started walking again, and I finally exhaled after they went around the corner. I re-showed myself and slowly began walking the way they went. I really wasn't sure were to go, I mean, no meetings, I still didn't know any good places here to hang out.

All of a sudden, Steve and Tony came darting back down the hall. I didn't have time to go invisible, they already saw me. "Where are you guys off to?" I asked as casually as I possibly could.

"Enemies have been spotted, loading dock downtown. It's your time to shine, kid!" Tony called.

"Oh boy," I shuddered, running after them.

* * *

At the loading dock, the place was crawling with the freakish humans. I could tell they were different, because their eyes were completely black, like demons. Tony flew in and started fighting them instantly, and they all ambushed us. Everyone was on ground fighting left and right. I progressively began to take them out with my fields, literally one touch of any of my force fields, and they just collapsed. I spotted a few of them trying to run up massive metal stairs to one of the control stations for the cranes to unload and load the ships. I turned invisible and snuck up after them, climbing up the piping instead of taking the stairs. At the top, they had no where to run, I showed myself; blocking the stairs of course.

"Hello, boys," I chuckled deviously.

They all charged at me and I jumped, one falling over the fence and about 60 feet into the water. I started wiping the others out, but I didn't notice that they progressively were leading me towards the edge of the railing. Now there were two of them left.

"Hey, pretty girl, want to dance?"

"In your dreams," I said grabbing his arm and twisting it, then shooting a force field into his face with my other hand.

"How about you? You a dancer?" I said casually to the last one.

"No, but I am a fighter." He growled, swinging a fist at me, I kicked him in the abdomen and we kept fist fighting, he was so fast I didn't have the time to shoot a force field, he would grab my hand and throw me over. My lower back was against the fence rail, and he was only inches from me.

"Any last words?" he chuckled.

"I'm not gonna die, even if I fall, you have no weapons." I smirked. Suddenly I felt a rope latch around my throat from behind, pulling me down into the water. I had completely forgotten that one of them fell in the water. Before I hit the water, I saw Tony flying up to where I was only moments ago to keep the other one occupied.

I hit the bitterly freezing water, stinging like fire when it made contact with my fragile skin. While I was underwater I ripped the rope from my neck and swam back up, gasping for air. The enemy pushed my head back under, and he kicked me under the water. I bobbed my head back up and shot a force field; missed. I turned invisible, and then he just got confused. I waited a moment, for I couldn't swim because then he would see the current. Then I blasted a force field in his face...he collapsed, then sank.

"Whew," I exhaled.

There was a moment of peace before I noticed about four more of them rushing towards me, jumping into the water. I gasped as one grabbed me from behind, holding a knife to my throat.

"Alex!" I heard Steve call faintly.

I couldn't respond, I didn't want to. I was afraid to, actually.

"You make one move, this knife slits your throat and you choke on your own blood. What's it gonna be, kid?" the man growled.

"You didn't really give me another option..."

"Quiet!" he shouted.

I slightly looked down at my hand, and I saw it glowing purple. I really had no where to move, I made one move, this guy cuts my throat and/or the other ones drown me.

"Actually, you did!" I screamed, I felt the man begin to slide the knife across my throat but I shot him with a force field just in time, I dunked under the water and swam under the other people's feet, wiping them out from behind. I didn't notice, however, that there was one more.

"Look out!" I heard someone call from the docks, the next thing I know I felt an insanely sharp pain through my abdomen. It wasn't long before I sank under the water slowly, clutching my torso in pain, and that's all I saw before I blacked out.

* * *

**_Third Person POV_**

Piper sat in the apartment, reading a magazine when suddenly she heard the home phone begin to ring. She got up and went to answer it. It was an unknown number, and she certainly didn't like to answer the calls, but this time, her gut was telling her to answer it.

"Hello?" she said casually.

"Piper! You need to get the hospital now!"

"Wait, who is this?"

"It's Steve! Alex has been stabbed just get down here!"

"Which hospital?!" Piper said anxiously, feeling every nerve in her body spike in fear.

"Downtown, it's the one closest to your apartment! I don't know what the heck it's called!"

"Okay, I'll be there!" Piper practically screamed almost dropping the phone when she hung up. She slipped on a pair of sandals, slipped the apartment keys in her pocket and went sprinting down the street. They didn't have a car, so her legs were going to have to be fast.

She slipped between all the people on the busy streets. Some of them cursed under their breath, while the others noticed the fear in her eyes and just let her pass.

After running about six blocks non-stop, Piper finally reached the hospital. She ran in the ER and saw Steve standing there. "Steve, where is she?" she panted, sweat beading on her forehead.

"They have her in the operating room and they aren't letting anyone back yet."

"No, I have to see her!" she almost screamed.

"Piper calm down," Steve muttered.

"No, no, I'm not letting my sister die! I'm seeing her right now!" she screamed this time. She went running towards the doors but Steve grabbed her arm.

"Piper, Piper, stop fighting, just relax," he said calmly.

"No! I can't let her die!" she cried, tears streaming her cheeks. Steve just picked her up and walked her outside, setting her back down. She wasn't scream-crying, just sniffling a lot.

"She won't die, she's in good hands, okay? Plus she's not...y'know..."

"Human?" Piper sniffled, looking up at him with blurry eyes.

"Yes, so, she's got a benefit."

"I'm sorry, I just, I freaked, and, I just..."

"It's okay, I just don't want them taking you to a mental hospital or something. That's all we need right now,"

"Yeah, right," she tried to laugh.

"They said the would come get me when we were allowed back, so until then, we're just going to have to wait. Do you want to wait inside or out here?"

"I don't care, I guess out here so I don't irritate people," she sniffled.

They sat on a bench and Piper began to ask tons of questions. "So wait, how did you have time to change if you came straight from the mission?"

"I have my ways..." Steve muttered.

"Right, okay, not going to ask, well, where are the others?"

They finished the mission, Natasha captured the last enemy that stabbed Alex and took him back to SHIELD, and Fury ordered that they all should go back there as well.

"Are there more of those, freakish people coming?"

"Yeah, it's probably going to be a war, Piper."

"A war?"

"It's nothing to worry about, we've got you covered." Steve smiled.

"Thanks," she half-chuckled. She was still worried sick about Alex. "Do you think she's doing okay?" she sniffled again.

"I'm sure she's fine, she's a real warrior, she, she kind of told me about, her, past..."

"And she didn't even tell you all of it."

"Wait...what do you mean?"

"She only told you about the cutting, yes?" Piper asked, rubbing her eyes.

"Yeah..."

"Well, it didn't end there. Yes, after I discovered she'd been cutting for almost two years, I took her to group counseling thing since she didn't seem to stop. After attending those meetings for almost a year, she finally stopped the cutting, but, not long after that, I caught trying to overdose..." Piper trailed off, tearing up again.

"Overdose?" Steve was confused.

"She tried to kill herself, Steve," Piper said softly, a few more tears streaming from her eyes.

"But...why?"

"I don't know," Piper sniffled, "So, after that, I took her to counseling again, and I never let her out of my sight. But, I caught her again only a few months later, this time it wasn't with pills, she tried to jump off a bridge onto a busy highway, and, I caught her hand just before she jumped..." Piper cried softly again. "Sorry, I normally don't cry this much but when I remember her like that I just can't help it..."

"Piper, it's fine...but, I'm just wondering why would she ever do stuff like that?"

"She just, between never really having parents, and, the whole super human thing kind of made her degrade herself even more, and, I honestly don't know, but, I just can't bear to think back to those times." Piper said wiping her tears away with her shirt sleeve.

Suddenly a nurse came outside. "Sir, your friend is alright, you can both visit her now if you'd like."

"She's awake?" Piper said eagerly, standing up.

"Sort of, she's just waking up from sedation so I'm not promising any real conversation." The nurse continued, walking in with Steve and Piper who were not far behind.

* * *

_**Back to Alex's POV** _

I awoke to a pounding headache and throbbing pain in my abdomen. The last thing I could remember was fighting off those freaks in the water, I couldn't remember anything afterwards. My vision finally cleared after blinking a few times, and I noticed a large IV in my arm and blood flowing through the tube, I gulped a looked away, I couldn't stand needles stuck in people, and it was only worse when it was my own arm. I slightly turned my head and saw Piper reading a magazine, Steve was just staring off into space.

"Steve?" I whispered, even my throat was sore and dry. I slowly reached up and felt a forming scab from where the man had partially cut my throat earlier.

"Hey," he said caringly, standing up and walking to my bedside.

"What happened?" I practically croaked, slowly moving my hand towards the pain in my abdomen; but then, I slowly started to remember. "Wait, did, did I get stabbed?"

"Yes, they had to surgically repair some of your organs that were harmed," Piper said, now standing next to Steve.

"What about the mission? And the attacks? You guys need me..." I said, hardly able to keep my eyes open.

"All's you can do now is rest," Steve said, holding my hand softly as I drifted back off to sleep.

* * *

I awoke again later to soft voices coming somewhere in the room. I was sure not to move my head, so whoever was talking wouldn't notice that I was awake. I then noticed Steve and Fury talking in the doorway.

"Steve, every hero takes a shot or a stab, and they keep on fighting. She'll be fine." Fury muttered.

"Yes, but, she's younger, and she isn't as experienced. I just don't want her to get hurt like this every single mission."

"And she wont, one stab doesn't mean it's over. Do you know how many times Agent Romanoff has taken a bullet? And look at her, she fights fine."

"Don't bring anyone else's experience into this, Alex hasn't done anything her entire life involving her abilities and suddenly she has to save the world?"

"Steve, there's a lot you don't know and I certainly cannot talk to you about it here for two reasons. One, it's top secret, and two, she's listening." Fury practically whispered, but I still heard him. I immediately closed my eyes, which, really they were barely all the way open, so I still looked asleep.

I heard Fury walk out and Steve shut the door. "Hey, I know you're up."

I peeked my eyes open. "Sorry, I just woke up, I heard you guys talking and, well, I couldn't really plug my ears. Where's Piper?"

"She had to go back to your guy's apartment, said there was something she needed to get. Personally, I don't think she could stand seeing you like this, which, I barely can either."

"Why am I not already better? Shouldn't I be on my feet already?"

"You should be by tomorrow, you just lost enough blood to the point where even your abilities couldn't help you."

"I lost that much?"

"You're a fast bleeder," Steve almost chuckled.

"I'll be sure to put that on my medical forms." I said normally. My voice was already gaining it's strength and the throbbing pains had gone away.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door. "Uh oh, not these two," Steve said jokingly. He walked over and opened the door. Bruce and Tony walked in, Tony and Steve staring each other down in the process.

"Hey, came by to see the cripple," Tony said.

"Thanks, loving the hospital." I said sarcastically. "Wait, question; if I didn't take out all of the genetic freaks, then what happened to the ones you guys were fighting?"

"I think Dr. Banner can explain that one..." Tony trailed off.

"The other guy, he, he kind of..." Bruce muttered.

"Ripped them to sheds?" Steve finished for him.

"Yeah." Bruce said, looking down awkwardly.

"So, my fields aren't the only thing that can kill them after all, huh?"

"Well, I don't think anything could survive being split in half." Tony chimed in.

"Hopefully," I added.

Suddenly someone's phone buzzed and everyone we all began looking around the room. "Oh, it's mine," Bruce said. "It's Fury, he wants us all at HQ, now."

"I'm not leaving Alex," Steve said defensively.

"Yes, you are. If it's something important than you need to go, and you know that Fury doesn't joke around." I said.

Bruce and Tony walked out after a short goodbye but Steve wouldn't budge.

"Steve, you're not staying here for me. Now get going," I said sternly.

"I'll be back," he muttered in defeat.

"I don't think I'll be going anywhere," I chuckled. He shot me a small grin before walking out.

_**That's a wrap! :p Sorry again that it took so long, but I'll try my best to get the next chapter out hopefully sooner. Thanks so much for reading and please review, follow and favorite! :D **_


	5. Chapter 5

**Shadowed Past **

**Chapter 5**

**Hey guys! Thanks so much for reading and staying with the story! Really sorry it's been taking so long, school is terrible :/ And also sorry if I'm making anyone too OOC, I feel like I am but I might be paranoid...I don't know. Please review and all that other stuff that I don't feel like typing again! XD Anyways, enjoy! :D**

***********I DON'T OWN _THE AVENGERS_ OR ANY OF THE CHARATCERS (I wish) AND ONLY THE OC PEOPLE ARE MINE BESIDES THE FACT THAT ALEX'S POWERS/ABILITIES ARE DISNEY'S IDEA***********

* * *

_**Third Person**_** POV**

Steve, Tony and Bruce got back to SHIELD HQ as fast as they possibly could. But they certainly weren't there long before they were sent out on the mission they'd been called in for. The GMO (Genetically Modified Organism) people had taken over downtown Manhattan, and they just kept coming.

"How are we going to take them all out without Alex?" Natasha asked Steve as they were speeding towards Manhattan in a car.

"I don't know, Banner can beat up some of them up, but that still won't be quick enough, not at the rate these guys are coming at."

"I think our main goal here is to keep people safe and we can destroy the enemies later, at least until Alex gets here." Natasha said.

"Yeah, right," Steve replied as he sped up the car. He was driving, Natasha in the passenger seat, Clint was in the back with Thor, Tony flew his way there, and Banner was smashing his way there; well the 'other guy' was.

"Shouldn't there be like a SHIELD mobile vehicle or something? I mean seriously, we just hijacked a random car and we're supposed to be the good guys..." Clint broke the silence.

"I didn't hijack any car, I hijacked Fury's car." Steve replied.

"Yep, we're dead." Clint replied.

"How'd you get in?" Natasha asked.

"Easy, but if you don't mind I'll explain later, upcoming demonic human invasion on your left." Steve said slamming on the breaks and everyone climbed out. There were tons of planes flying by and dropping the people out. Hulk had ripped multiple of them up and was in the process of doing so, and Tony was doing his best to try and destroy them too.

They all got busy engaging in a practical war with these GMO people, but besides Hulk tearing a few apart every now and then, literally nothing else could stop them.

* * *

**_Back to Alex's POV_**

I felt my nerves tense and spike under my skin; something was wrong. Deathly wrong. I couldn't believe I was just lying here like a rock on the ground while who knows what was going on out there. I then heard an explosion and gunshots off in the distance.

"I've gotta get out of here." I whispered; wide eyed. I looked down at the two needles in my arm. One was giving me blood, the other was just a regular IV. "Pain killer," I muttered. I glanced at my door for moment or two, making sure the nurse wasn't coming. "Am I really going to do this?" I gently began to pull on the needle when I saw the doorknob turn. I hastily put my hands back at my sides and acted totally normal.

"Miss Cooper, you've got a visitor," a nurse said, stepping aside. Piper walked in.

"Thank you," Piper said as the nurse walked out.

"There you are! What happened to you?!" I practically cheered.

"We, are busting out of here," she said walking over to my side.

"You say that like I'm in jail. Well, technically I am but it's a clean one that smells like old people." I didn't even notice that when I had rambled on she took the needles out of my arm.

"There, now, let's go."

"Since when did you become a nurse? And why are you being so serious?"

"I didn't, taking needles out of an arm is nothing. And, New York needs saving. I knew you'd be fine by now."

"Wait, what about clothes? I can't go fight wearing, this, I mean this will literally get torn off of me the minute I run out the door."

"I have your suit in the car, now come on, we've gotta get out of here before they notice."

"They're going to notice me walking out! And car? When did you get a car?!"

"Invisibility? And Fury lent me one."

"Lovely, and, fine, I'll try." I muttered. I turned invisible, and so did the gown. "Whoa, it must be the right material!" I gasped.

"Beautiful, now come on!" Piper said. She opened the door and walked out normally, and I just trotted by her side, a couple of times I had to slip behind her because of on-coming people.

* * *

In the car, I tried to slip my suit on in the back while Piper sped down the streets.

"Could you go any faster?!" I said sarcastically.

"Just hold on, we're almost there!" she said flooring it.

I looked out the window and saw all of the chaos. "Oh no," I muttered to myself.

"Go! Get out there kid!" Piper yelped. I hadn't even realized that she'd stopped the car. She opened up the sunroof and I climbed out the top since the GMO people began to crowd around the car.

"Piper! Floor it!" I called, beginning to battle them off.

"But you'll fall!"

"Just do it! Save yourself!" I screamed. She obeyed and put the pedal to the metal. I rolled off and landed on my feet, wiping out the last of the enemies. More of them charged me and I began fighting. The planes had finally stopped coming, but there were so many of them this was probably the entire army...for now.

"Alex!" Steve called.

"Yeah?!"

"What are you doing?!"

"Trying to save the world!" I screamed, punching one in the face before wiping him out cold. I did a final ground slam and wiped the last ten out at the same time. "Wait a second..." I pondered. "If I did a massive slam like that, I could probably make a force big enough to wipe them all out at once..." I looked up, there was a tall skyscraper only about a block down. Steve finally made his way over to me.

"Why are you here, there's no way you're better already." he panted.

"Right." I said, wiping an on-coming enemy out from behind without looking.

"And why are you looking at me like that?"

"I need you, to throw me there," I said pointing at the building."

"Again, why?"

"Because, if I do a ground slam big enough I can end all this now, now throw me up to this building right here so I can jump over to the other one or else we've got a lot more fighting to do."

"If you get hurt again..."

"I won't, I promise,"

"Are you two love birds going to actually do something or what?!" I heard Natasha scream from the middle of a fight.

"Working on it!" I yelled back. "Now throw me!"

Steve hastily picked me up and threw my straight up at the sky. I caught on to a flag-pole about halfway up the building, I swung back and forth until I built up enough energy to swing all the way around the flag-pole before letting go and flying up to the top. I ran across the roof and leaped to the next building, and the next, and the next, until finally, the skyscraper was under my feet. I stood at the edge and looked down at the battle; everyone looked like ants.

I closed my eyes and exhaled. The last time I was up this high was when I was about to jump onto that highway. Before I jumped I looked one last time, and then, I pushed myself off the roof and sliced through the air as I fell. I began building up force field power as the ground approached. The next thing I knew, I was about to hit the ground...only about ten more feet...seven...six...five...

I waved my arms and my feet slammed to the ground, my legs bent as the field began to spread out and swept across the entire side of the city. Every enemy fell dead, and everything went silent. I remained in that position for a moment or two, until I finally looked up and realized that it was over, at the moment at least.

* * *

Back at SHILED, Fury called an emergency meeting.

"So, I see that you, Miss Cooper, are back in the game." Fury said.

"Yes sir, I believe so. A little stab won't kill me."

"And, all the enemies were taken out earlier, yes?"

We all looked at each other and nodded like, _Um, yeah, no dip Sherlock. _

"Well, I'm glad to say that the wave is over, for now. But SHIELD agents are trying to locate the exact coordinates where those planes were sent from, so it looks like we'll all be traveling here shortly."

"What is there like some lab somewhere that's making these things?" Clint asked.

"Yes, and whoever's making them is certainly on my 'to kill' list." Fury said.

"So what do we do?" Natasha asked.

"Once the agents locate the position we need, we'll have you all on your way. As of this moment just remain alert for anymore attacks." Fury said, then dismissing the meeting.

* * *

Afterwards, I went straight back to the apartment to see Piper. I was hoping that's where she'd gone. I swung the door open to see her sitting there on the couch, looking worried sick.

"Als!" she squealed running over to me.

"Pipes!" I squealed as we hugged.

"I was so worried! Are you hurt? And why did you jump off a building?! Are you nuts?!"

"Hey, I saved everyone didn't I?"

"Yes, but,"

"No buts, I'm not normal, remember?" I chuckled as we pulled away from the hug.

"I don't care, if something happened to you I wouldn't know what to do with myself."

"Same here, sis." I smiled.

"So, is it over?" she asked.

"No, the agents are going to locate where these things are being sent from and we'll have to go there. But until then we're just on high guard for any more attacks."

"How far will you have to go?"

"I don't know, it might be in another state, country, or continent even."

"Please be New Jersey..." Piper whispered looking up.

I just chuckled. "Well, I'm taking this thing off, I think I needs a bit of a wash." My suit was covered in dirt, even a few rips were in it.

"Yeah, I'll bet." Piper replied.

* * *

Later that night, Piper had gone to bed and I was awake watching TV on the couch. I glanced at the clock. Three in the morning. "Gosh, I might just see the sun rise." I muttered. I still didn't feel tired, my eyes just wanted to stay open. The pain from the stab was still throbbing in my abdomen, but I refused to tell anyone or else they might just put me straight back in the hospital. Even my fingertips and toes felt cold, probably slight anemia from the blood loss. I'd been anemic many times in my past, especially when I used to cut. I pulled back my sweatshirt sleeve and looked at the scars, and remembered the endless nights of pain.

Suddenly my thoughts were interrupted by a small knock on the door. I shook my head, rubbed my eyes, and stared at the door. _I must be hallucinating... _I thought. But I heard it again. I turned invisible and slowly made my way to the door, and then I slowly opened it. It was Steve.

I showed myself. "Steve? What are you doing here at three in the morning?" I yawned, trying to make it look like I was tired. "And, why are you wearing the suit?"

"There's another attack..."

"Seriously?" I huffed.

"It's only a small one, but, we need you."

"What about Bruce? You guys couldn't use him?"

"He's not exactly the quietest..."

"True, give me a second let me...oh wait, I put my suit in the wash, it was all nasty from earlier. Um, just-" I muttered. I threw up my hood and ran over to slip on a pair of skating sneakers.

"Your going in that? Shorts and a hoodie?"

"Eh, I just can't go inivisble which is a minor loss if the attack is only a few." I said as I shut the door behind myself and we walked out. "Wait, why'd you use the door anyways? Why not just climb to my window or something? You just walked in looking like that?" I asked as we got into the elevator.

"I looked in and no one was in the lobby so I just ran up to your apartment, hopefully there wouldn't be anyone lurking around the halls at this time of day, right?" he said as we walked out.

"You never know with these old coots," I muttered. Steve chuckled as we started jogging down the street. "I have never seen the streets this empty..."

"You get used to it."

When I saw Natasha keeping the five GMO people busy in a dark alley, I quickly ran in and took two of them out with one blast, my purple force fields lighting up the alley. "Who's next?" I said casually as the other three glared at me. They all charged me at once, and I jumped up at the last second, causing them all to storm right into the brick wall. I shot a force field down at them before I landed on the ground.

"Problem solved." I said.

"Nice work, see you two later." Natasha said before darting off.

"Bye," I muttered. "So, I guess I'll see you around?"

"Wait, are you sure you should be going home, alone?"

"Um, Steve, what are you talking about? I'll be fine..."

"No, I meant, um, Piper, kind of, explained..."

"Explained what?"

"About, you, and, suicide..." he said nervously.

"Oh," I muttered, surprised.

"Don't feel like she was turning her back on you or anything, when you were in the hospital she was practically crying to death telling me about why she was worried, just because, you'd, tried, _that_, before..."

"No, no, I get it, but, those days are over, I'll be okay. I promise." I tried to smile, it was obviously fake.

"Are you sure? You don't seem alright."

"Yeah, just, shaking it off." I muttered.

"So, I'll see you in the morning?"

"Yeah, do you want to meet up for coffee or something?"

"Um, sure, that sounds nice." I actually smiled this time.

"So I'll come by your place around nine?"

"Totally, sounds great." I grinned. "Well, I'll see ya," I giggled before walking off.

"Yeah, bye," Steve said, grinning as I walked away.

* * *

"What do you mean he asked you out for coffee?! You need to get ready!" Piper screamed when I mentioned the fact that Steve was going to be over in about fourty-five minutes.

"I'll be fine, Pipes."

"No! No! This is not okay! I need to do your hair!"

"Fine, _mom_, I'll be in the bedroom putting on a pair of _jeans_ and a comfy _sweatshirt_, thank you very much. And my hair, shall be brushed, and that's final." I chuckled walking into the bedroom and shutting the door.

I did completely as I said, putting on my black sweatshirt and some skinny jeans with all the rips and tears. I slid on my combat boots tied them. I walked over to the dresser and began to brush my hair. I held up some of the ends of the long strands and realized my dirty blonde hair was beginning to show, and the black dye beginning to fade. "Lovely," I huffed. I hated having to re-dye my hair because then I had to make sure I didn't get any black on the colored streaks, which was very complicated being that there were so many of them.

My thoughts were suddenly scrambled when Piper knocked on the door. "He's here! And you better look feasible!"

"I think I do," I chuckled brushing my hair one last time before darting out of the room. "Oh, hi!" I smiled unexpectedly, I didn't think that Piper had actually let him inside already.

"Morning," he laughed at my sudden anxiety. "You ready?"

"Totally," I said as casually as possible.

* * *

"So, which coffee place are we going to?" I asked as we walked down the busy streets.

"Wherever, do you know any good places?"

"Um, not really, I'm usually a slave the place I work at-oh, crap...I forgot..."

"What?"

"I haven't gone to work in days, and I haven't said anything about my absence..."

"Hey, well I think saving the world comes first, and I'm sure SHIELD will give you some money, at least."

"Yeah, at least." I chuckled. I looked up and noticed Steve was looking off into the distance. "You okay?" I asked, trying to see what he was practically staring at.

"They're back."

"Already? How can you tell?"

"I just saw one slip into that alley about a block down. Stay here, I got him."

"Um, excuse me, no, you need me for that!" I said as he started walking off.

"No, I'm not letting you get hurt again," He said, not even looking at me; he kept his glare straight ahead as our pace of walking began to speed up.

"Hey, I jumped off of a building, and I'm fine, so, I'm going to handle this."

"You broke out of a hospital like it was a prison,"

"So, I saved lives! You crashed a freaking plane into the ice and for what?! You saved lives!"

"I don't care, I'm not letting you get hurt!"

"I won't!" I screamed, storming ahead of him. I darted right into the alley and didn't make it far before I felt a tight hand grip around my throat.

"So, you're the one with the special powers," he chuckled deviously. I struggled to loosen his grip, but I was failing. He lifted me up off the ground; and I tried kicking, but my feet couldn't reach him. "And you're coming with me."

Suddenly, everything went black.

* * *

_**Third Person POV**_

Steve ran into the alley, and saw no one. "Alex?" He ran into the alley further and shouted her name again. Nothing. Alex was gone.

* * *

**_DUN DUN DUN! Lol, cliffhanger! XP Sorry again for it taking me like so long to upload, I honestly hate school right now. I'm like, why can't you just stop giving me homework and be over? Gosh. Lol. So anyways, please please please review! Also keep on following and favorite-ing and all that stuff fanfiction-ers do ;) Thanks so much for reading and keeping up with the story, I'll update as soon as I can! :D_**


	6. Chapter 6

**Shadowed Past**

**Chapter Six**

_**Hey everyone! I'm so sorry it's been taking me so long to update, school was so murderous until literally the last day but school JUST ENDED AND I'M SOOOO HAPPY! :D I'll have more free time now! :D Anyways, thanks so much for staying with the story and/or being patient with my late updates I'm really sorry again that it took so long. Thanks for reading! Please review (I MUST KNOW WHAT YOU GUYS THINK! PLEASE I'M BEGGING YOU! I NEED REVIEWS!), follow and favorite! Enjoy Chapter Six! XD**_

* * *

_**Alex's POV**_

My eyes slowly peeled themselves open, and my nostrils quickly filled with a reeking scent of must and dirt. I felt tight chains keeping my limp body pulled up against a hard chair. I blinked a few times to clear my vision, and finally remembered what had happened. I saw the chains, they were wrapped around my wrists, ankles, and waist. I was tied to the point where I certainly couldn't escape, not very easily at the least. I looked at my hands, not only were they tied facing down, but thick brown leather gloves covered them. The fingers only when halfway on the gloved, and there were little circles over each knuckle. I began to look around the room, there was a dim light on me, but based off what I could make out, it appeared to be a warehouse. There was silence, the only thing I could hear was my soft breathing.

"Well, it looks like our precious little killing machine has awoken..." I heard a deep voice chuckle from the shadows.

"Yeah, precious," I huffed.

"I never gave you permission to speak,"

"You never told me I wasn't allowed to speak either, dingbat."

I just heard a soft chuckle come from his throat as he walked out into the open light. I looked up and saw his eyes, black, just like the rest of them. "Your a sassy little one, aren't you?"

"You could say that." I scoffed. "Now why did you freaking kidnap me?"

"That's a silly question," He chuckled. "Why wouldn't I? You're the only thing that can take out my creations, so if I kill you, then I can successfully take over the planet. Sound good?"

"You'll never kill me, trust me, I've tried twice before and look at me, I'm still here."

"Just because your friend saved got you to the hospital in time before all of those overdosed pills intoxicated your blood stream doesn't mean she'll be able to save you now. And just because she grabbed your hand before you jumped off that bridge doesn't mean she will be here this time, her or that lousy over-prideful American."

"How did you know about..."

"I know _everything _about you, Alex. I've known everything about you since the moment you took your first breath!" he practically screamed.

I didn't respond, I was scared. This guy seemed to know what he was doing, but I still spoke strong. "Doesn't mean you know everything about me."

"Oh really?" He said, "How about this to, break the ice; as they would say, your mother didn't die in a car accident. I killed her myself! Just to prevent her from stopping my army! But no, days later I find out she had a blasted daughter who wielded the same abilities!"

"I don't believe you!" I screamed, I felt hot tears lining my eyes.

"I think it's time you did!" he shouted before storming out.

* * *

_**Third Person**** POV**_

SHIELD had been started a search party for Alex about three days ago, and still no luck. Every agent was searching non stop either by satellite or by helicopter, and still no luck.

"Have any of you found anything yet?" Fury's voice boomed.

"Yes! Yes! I've just found something!" one of the SHIELD agents called. She was fairly new, so nobody was expecting anything to be honest. Fury darted over to her station and looked on her computer. There was a blinking red dot over top of the United Kingdom.

"How do you know she's there?" he asked.

"I ran a global DNA scan, and the organism's DNA matching exactly hers is right there in England, sir,"

"Are you positive it's hers?"

"Yes, sir, her friend Piper brought the sample from their apartment."

"Zoom in on it and get me the exact coordinates."

"Right away, sir," the girl said, clicking multiple buttons and zooming on the blinking dot. She imported the coordinates into a flash drive and gave it to Fury. Maria was busy issuing the latest update to everyone and rounding up a few of the avengers to go with them.

* * *

In the helicopter, Steve, Natasha, and Clint all sat in silence. Tony was just flying his way there, probably just trying to show off his newest suit.

"Steve, she's going to be okay," Nat finally spoke up.

"How do you know?" he snipped back.

"Hey, she's a strong kid, I'm sure she'll be fine." Clint added as he was messing with his bow.

"She jumped off a building, Steve." Nat said.

"I could've stopped them from taking her, but by the time I go the alley they were gone." Steve muttered.

"It wasn't your fault, they tricked you both." Nat replied.

"We're almost there, be ready you guys," Maria called back. Maria was going to fly the helicopter low and the three were going to jump out. It was hardly five minutes after she said that and they were over the warehouse that the map was showing as the location of Alex.

"Come on, Steve, do this for Alex." Clint said as the helicopter latch opened.

"Trust me, I will."

* * *

_**Alex's POV**_

I was about to cry, I couldn't believe it. But, could I really believe this guy? He's probably just trying to taunt me, at least I hope. I suddenly heard the beating of a helicopter's blades ahead and some alarms go off in the distance. I felt a small smirk creep upon my lips. My rescue was here. I began to struggle as best as I could to try and get out of the chains, but, the gloves were preventing me from using my powers. "Help!" I tried calling. No answer. It was worth a shot.

"Alex!" I heard someone yell.

"Here! I'm in here!" I shouted back. Suddenly the door crashed down and Natasha stepped in, pointing her gun out ready to fire.

"There's no security in here?" she asked, lowering her aim.

"Nope. Just chillin'." I sighed sarcastically.

She ran down the stairs and came over to me. "Did you get a good look at the man?"

"My kidnapper? No, but there was some freak in here earlier claiming he killed my mother...does that help?"

"At the moment, no." she panted as she worked at the chains. It didn't take her long to get me free, and I leaped up out of the chair. I ripped the gloves off my hands and threw them to the ground.

"Where to?" I asked as we went sprinting up the stairs again.

"We've got a problem to solve," she replied as we ran down the hall. She touched her earpiece and spoke, "I've got Cooper, where's Barton?"

"He's keeping the demons busy with Rogers and Stark." Maria replied.

"Good, that's where we need them."

"What are we doing?" I spoke up.

"They're about to launch hundreds of planes with the genetic freaks in them, and we need to stop them. But there's one problem, even their leader is one of them."

"Oh, joy." I huffed.

"I'm going to the control rooms to keep them busy, you wipe out the ones with Barton and Rogers until I give the signal, got it?"

"Sounds good." I panted before we split our ways. I went sprinting towards where Steve and Clint were apparently fighting. When I stepped in the airline wing I saw Tony blowing up the aircrafts and Steve keeping about twenty GMO people busy. I ran over and started wiping them out, taking about two minutes to wipe them all out.

"Alex, you're okay," Steve panted.

"Well duh it's not like I'm gonna sit there and let them kill me," Steve just rolled his eyes at my remark with a small grin on his lips. "Now, I need to be taking out these things once and for all,"

"Alex," Steve said as I started to walk away.

I looked over my shoulder and replied, "Yeah?" Thinking, oh boy, here comes the over-protective Steve to lecture me about that I shouldn't do this and blah blah blah.

"Be careful," he said.

"I will," I smiled, remembering that when he said it on my first day in SHIELD, when we went to the hostage situation. With that I disappeared and darted off to find where Natasha went, the control room.

* * *

I stayed invisible as I crept into the main control room for all the aircrafts. Everything was calm, and Natasha was no where to be seen. I watched as the GMO's at the control panels began to launch aircrafts off, I tried my best not to curse at myself. Great, now there was more work we had to do back in New York. I continued to snoop around, trying to look for the best way to take all these guys out. There were probably twenty total including the guards walking around the place like hawks. _Natasha where are you? _I complained to myself. I finally decided my plan. If I locked the control room door, and then take them out, maybe I can take over the controls and stop them from launching anymore flights.

I began to creep back over towards the door, but my foot bumped a crate full of empty glass beer bottles. _Nice, they drink too. _I thought to myself. Every single being in the room froze, all the eyes turned right to the spot I was, and the guards aimed their rifles. I was sure not to move myself, if they heard anything else they'd know I was there, I was the only person who could turn invisible for crying out loud.

"Drop your weapons!" One of the guards yelled. They must've known it was me.

I slowly showed myself, and they didn't shoot. But I was ready to make a force field at any second, although they raised their guns, they didn't shoot. "Hey! Whoa! Calm down, fellas!" I said casually. "Let's take this slow..."

"You're under arrest," One of them said, not moving.

"For what? Breaking and entering, psh, I was brought here against my own will, not my choice."

"Drop your weapons," another repeated.

"I don't think I can necessarily drop something I was born with, now can I?" I held my hands up and they began to glow, ready to fire at them. I instantly put a force field around myself, watching as the bullets ricocheted off of the illuminating purple. I kept a devious smirk on my face, just to make them fear my strength even more. After all of their guns ran out, I just chuckled. "You done?"

One of them ran over and hit an alarm, and that was my cue. I dropped the field and went invisible, and began to swipe the fields all over the room, watching them fall to the ground. Natasha finally dropped down from the ceiling coming from an air vent. "Oh so now you show up?" I called as I finished taking out the last few.

"You seemed to manage without my help," she said crossing her arms. "Now we have to find the one that runs the freakshow and get out of here."

"Sounds good to me."

* * *

We met up with Steve, Clint and Tony. "Now, what did he look like?" Tony asked.

"I don't know! He had the eyes, I'm positive he had black hair...I didn't really get a chance to look."

"Heat sensors are showing something moving in wing A6," Maria said over Nat's earpiece.

"Got it, A6."

"I'm taking this freak down..." I paused, and looked up. "Cover my back?"

They all just nodded. I smiled slightly before turning invisible and sprinting down the hall. "A6," I muttered to myself, looking at the signs dangling from the dark ceiling. There was hardly any light in the place, I'm surprised I could even see where I was going.

I finally ended up in wing A6. It was an empty airplane wing. I began to creep around and look for any signs of that man; the one who said he'd killed my mother. I slightly jumped as I heard someone began to clap slowly.

"Well, well, well...looks like someone thinks they're going to save the day. Take out hundred of innocent people, and for what? Revenge?"

My eyes shot around, I still didn't know where he was. I didn't want to show myself until I was sure I saw him.

"I can see you, little girl." He chuckled menacingly. Silence. "Oh please, stop acting like I don't know. Just show yourself."

"No." I muttered.

"Why not?"

"Show yourself first, then we can make this even."

He jumped down from some rafters and landed on his feet about five feet away from me. "Your turn."

I slowly re-showed myself; my purple eyes glaring into the lost, pure black of his. "And for the record, _you _took out hundreds of innocent people, and turned them into monsters like yourself."

"No, I made them better, stronger, faster, invincible to man kind, and then you come along and kill them."

"You only made them to kill hundreds of more people, and I killed to save lives before more were taken. And I'm pretty sure the amount of lives you've taken greatly out-numbers mine."

"How do you know?"

"How do I know?! You've been a murderer since you can last remember, starting with my mother!" I screamed, lunging at him. He slid out of the way and drew a knife. I looked over my shoulder and saw him charging me with the silver weapon, and I jumped straight up into a backflip before landing on my feet again. He charged me again and I shot a force filed at him, but he took no effect. I felt my eyes widen before I jumped out of the way just in time.

He began to chuckled menacingly, "Your little, gift, won't stop me. I am much, much, more powerful, than anything, you'll ever deal with!"

I gasped softly and ran as he began to throw smaller knives at me. "What's up with this guy and pointy objects?" I muttered under my breath. I felt one of the knives graze the middle of my left cheek, leaving a deep scar. I leaped up and climbed my way to the rafters while he scrambled to find more weapons. "A real man fights with his bare hands," I called down tauntingly. I heard him run over and began climbing more stairs to the rafters. I shot force fields across the rafters and watched as they lit up the dark room. He began shooting at me with a small hand gun and I put a force field around myself every time I heard the click of the weapon. I began to run and he shot, the bullet clipping my right bicep. I cringed in pain, but that pain quickly faded to more anger as I heard him chuckle at his winning shot. I began to shoot more fields myself, but they had no effect on him. I kept running across the rafters, wanting to make my way to him so I could just tear him apart. All the pain he'd caused, made me sick. If it wasn't for him, I'd still have my mother, maybe I wouldn't have harmed myself, maybe I wouldn't be here, fighting this creep.

Finally our eyes met again. We both stood still on the cat-walk structure and glared at each other, I could feel hatred itself wrapping it's cold hands around my neck and gripping on tighter, and his eyes spoke of nothing but hate, revenge, pure evil. "Make your move," I breathed. He instantly came running after me, but I leaped up at the exact moment, and as I flipped over him, and dug my nails into his neck as I continued to fly back, taking his head with me.

I gasped and walked backwards in pure shock, but some of my worry faded when I saw electric shocks shooting from the severed head. The body fell forwards, causing the beam to rattle. I still had my hands to my mouth, and the only sound in the room was the shaky sound of my breath. I felt my heart pounding out of my chest, "Calm down, he was just, a robot..." I told myself.

"Hey," I heard from behind. I slightly screamed and turned around quickly, my eyes still wide open.

"Steve," I muttered.

"It's okay," he said calmingly walking up to me. I ran up to him and wrapped my arms around him. He was taken by surprise and he only snaked his hands across my back slowly. I pulled away and looked up at him. "Are you going to be alright?"

"I'll be fine, just still comprehending..." I muttered looking over my shoulder at the dead man.

"Hey, he was just a robot, it's going to be okay,"

I suddenly remembered the fact that he'd killed my mother, and my fear instantly began to fade, the cold hatred filling up the empty space.

"Why don't we go get you patched up," he said, rubbing his thumb on my cheek, smearing some of the blood.

"Okay," I panted. I finally pulled my arms away from him and we walked out. I went to move my arm and felt the pain. "Ow," I gasped.

"What's wrong?"

"Just, my arm," I said, trying to hold it out but I cringed in pain. "I think the bullet's still in it..."

"Let's get to the helicopter, just to be safe."

As Steve helped me walk out, SHIELD agents began to flood the room. They were probably going to take anything and everything they needed for investigating. There was still lots of research to be done about how these people were turned from normality to beast.

* * *

In the helicopter, Maria tended to Alex's arm.

"The bullet's still lodged right above your bone, and there might be a small facture but nothing major. The only thing we can do now is apply pressure and slow the bleeding."

"Okay, thanks." I said.

"So, you ripped his head off?" Natasha asked casually.

"Yeah, and, I thought he was human, so I had a minor heart attack until I saw electric sparks flying from the neck."

"You get used to it," she reassured me. Who knows how many people she'd murdered with her bare hands before.

"And, he, said something about, he killed my mother..." I muttered.

"Are you sure about that? I thought she died in a car accident..." Steve said.

"I did too, I think I'll ask Piper. And if she doesn't know anything I'm asking Fury. But this guy sounds like he's tricked everyone. I mean, no matter how cruel or weird this sounds it actually makes sense, I mean, she was the only person who could kill his master creations, so he probably murdered her and made it look like a car accident. But he found out about me later apparently, so Piper's mom couldn't have saved me from the car accident scene then because that doesn't mean I was there...right? No, wait, that doesn't make sense...wait, yes it does! Oh my gosh I give up. I'll think later when I'm not wounded and have a throbbing headache."

Steve chuckled softly at my actions. "You're probably right," he said shyly.

"I don't even know anymore. Do any of you know if the planes made it back to New York?" I asked.

"Only two or three," Maria called back from the cockpit. "It shouldn't be any trouble, they might be able to get Banner to take them out before we get back."

"Thank gosh, I don't think I can do anymore fighting right now." I muttered.

The fly back home was rather silent, no one really talked. I was exhausted but couldn't sleep because of the pain shooting up my arm, and the throbbing pain slowly creeping deeper into my cheek and causing an ache to begin in my jaw. I got lost in thought as the ride remained silent all the way back. I was thinking about the whole mess about that freak killing my mom. If he did, then why would Piper lie?

* * *

_**THAT'S A WRAP PEEPS! :D Please, please, pretty-pretty please, WITH FREAKING SPRINKLES/CHERRIES WHATEVER THE SAYING IS...REVIEW! Thanks to those few of you that have reviewed, but I need some more! Like I don't know if this story is terrible and no one likes it or like I don't know lol. Sorry for the desperation-outburst. Lol. XD But thank you all so much for all the follows/favorites and please keep them up as well! So PLEASE REVIEW and I'll try to have the next chapter up ASAP! :D Thanks so much for reading and keeping up with my slow updates! ;D**_


	7. Chapter 7

**Shadowed Past**

**Chapter 7**

**Hey guys! I forgot the disclaimers in the last chapter and I just didn't feel like re-adding them, I mean I think we all know them lol. But, just in case, I put them in this time haha XD Thanks for anyone who has reviewed favorited and followed so far! So anyways, thanks for following and favorite-ing, PLEASE PLEASE KEEP REVIEWING, and thanks for reading/keeping patience with my slow updates! Enjoy! :D**

*************I DON'T OWN _THE AVENGERS_ OR ANY OF THE CHARATCERS (I wish) AND ONLY THE OC PEOPLE ARE MINE BESIDES THE FACT THAT ALEX'S POWERS/ABILITIES ARE DISNEY'S IDEA*************

* * *

Back at SHIELD HQ, some nurses worked on getting the bullet out of my arm, _without _putting me to sleep. I guess they thought that super humans have a ridiculous high pain tolerance or something. Which in some cases is true, but in others, it is so not. They basically just began to fish around in my arm to get the thing out, I mean seriously, you couldn't have asked first? Like do you even care and/or realize what kind of pain I'm freaking in? Some people.

After that whole mess was over and they stitched up the wound, I walked out, had a split second of pure silence, and then was tackled by Piper in the hallway.

"Piper!" I shouted.

"Als!" she replied as she quickly stood and helped me up. We looked at each other for about two seconds before we squealed and gave each other a hug. "Thank gosh you're alive!" she almost cried.

"I'm okay, Pipes, just calm down," I chuckled.

"I was so worried about you," Piper said as she pulled back from the hug.

"I was worried about you too." I replied.

"What happened?" She asked, seeing my wounds.

"I beat the bad guy!" I said cheerfully with a hint of sarcasm.

"I'm guessing you took the hard route?"

"Not really, he was just a pain in the butt." I chuckled. "But, can I talk to you about something?"

"Anything...wait, I didn't do it! I'm innocent I swear-"

"No! Piper, I know you didn't do anything...but wait, why do you say that? What have you been up to?"

"Nothing...just, what were you gonna ask me?"

"Oh, um, well, let's go somewhere more...private, if you don't mind."

"Okay, that's fine."

We walked down the hall until I spotted that the meeting room was empty. We slipped in and Piper shut the door quietly behind us.

"What did you want to talk about?"

"Well, I just..." I exhaled. "Okay, listen. When I woke up from being kidnapped, this, 'wack-o' man, he, he said that _he_ killed my mom. Not a car accident."

Piper's face dropped. "Als, I never knew about that..."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes! I'm positive! My mother always told me that she picked you up from the scene of the car accident! I know as much as you on this one!"

"But I don't understand, do you think he was telling the truth?"

"He probably just lied to taunt you, is that a villainous thing to do?"

"Yeah, which I considered, but, I just was checking. And believe me I trust you with my own life, please don't take this the wrong way,"

"Take it the wrong way? What do you mean?"

"Well some people would be all like, 'Oh my gosh you don't trust me what kind of friend are you wahhh' and all that junk."

"Ohhh, right." Piper chuckled. It was silent for a second before Piper started laughing again.

"What's so funny?" I asked.

"Nothing, it's just funny when you mock people..."

"Well, I have been told to have a comedic side," I smiled.

"By who? Steve?"

"Maybe..."

"Oh my gosh, Alex." Piper huffed.

"Hey, at least I didn't faint when I first met him."

"I have a very reasonable defense for that!"

"I'm listening," I said clearly.

"He was very attractive and famous! How could I not pass out?!"

"Paper bag? Don't forgot about breathing and/or blinking?"

"You know what..." Piper scoffed in defeat.

"You're welcome," I smiled sarcastically.

"Speaking of Steve, where is he?"

"Um, I don't know, actually..." I stammered, blushing slightly.

"You should go find him, you guys need to spend more quality time together."

"That's kind of hard when you've got a world to save..."

"You just saved it. Now go take a break for crying out loud," Piper said playfully hitting my shoulder.

We walked out of the room and didn't make it too far down the hall until Piper spotted Steve. My nerves got the best of me and I turned invisible. "Alex! You chicken!" Piper shouted.

"Shh! I'm just nervous!"

"Well don't be!" Piper said back. Of course her shouting got Steve's attention.

"Hi Piper," he said.

"Hello Steve," Piper said cheerfully. "Alex..." she muttered. I exhaled softly and showed myself.

"Sorry, I have anxiety problems..." I exhaled, embarrassed, my cheeks burning red.

"Uh huh, try telling that to the millions of strangers you've pranked." Piper said.

"That was years ago!"

"Like, five years ago. High school senior pranks? I'm pretty sure you were the only girl that took part in that..."

"Maybe I was but back then I could get away with goofing off...now we're all old and grown up. People expect us to be sophisticated Pipes," I said.

"Who's the oldest of us all here?" Steve said.

"Oh, right, sorry." I chuckled.

"It's fine," he smiled.

"And besides, Alex, I myself am NOT sophisticated nor will I ever be. I was just never big on being loud or pulling pranks."

"I was not _that_ loud,"

"We are still a couple hundred dollars in debt right now for noise complaint bills, fyi." Piper said.

"Seriously?"

"Yes."

"Okay! I'm loud! Gosh, can we change the topic please?"

"Sure thing," Piper said with a devious smile. _Oh no, what was she planning now?_

"Oh wait, actually, I've got something I need to do..." I trailed off.

"What would that be?" Steve asked.

"Nothing, major, just a little snooping around I have to do..."

"Snooping?" Piper asked.

"Um, yeah, I'm going to check my mothers files and see if they say anything about her real death."

"But, even Fury thinks she died by a car accident..." Steve said.

"Yes, but Fury lies, a lot."

"This is true..." He trailed off.

"I won't be long, I'm just going to break into the file room, read my mom's files, and sneak back out. I shouldn't take more than ten minutes."

* * *

I snuck through the halls invisible, and when a SHIELD agent passed me my hand grazed their ID Card just enough to where I slipped it out of their pocket. The card turned invisible as soon as my smooth fingers touched it; just another one of my abilities. I was known as the best pick-pocketer back in high school after all. I walked up to the doors of the file room, and of course there was a huge sign and in bolded red print it read: Authorized Access Only. I slid the card though the machine and the small screen on the wall flashed green, unlocking the large steel door. I slipped inside and closed the door slowly behind me.

I walked around the gigantic room until I finally found the C's. I pulled open the drawer and began to flip for the name Cooper. I finally saw and older, stained file that read: _Cooper, Lucy_ on the tab. My mother. I slipped out the file an opened it. The first page was her photo, and just other basic information. Blood type, hair color, eye color, all the usual things you would see on any file. My eyes finally reached the bottom of the page where there was a small stamp that read: Stark Industries. I turned to the next page and it was all about the experiment Howard Stark conducted on her. Everything that was changed in her DNA, the date and time the experiment was conducted, side effects, literally everything. I continued to flip page after page until I found her death information.

_Death of Agent Lucy Cooper_

_Cause of Death: GMO Attack; Body found with abdominal wounds-multiple stabs and bullet holes. _

_Location of Death: Unknown _

_Time of Death: (Approx.) 9:28pm_

_Date of Death: May 29th, 1989_

_Miscellaneous Information: Agent Lucy Cooper of SHIELD was reported to have been slaughtered by a GMO (Name/Location Unknown) during her mission to decease said organism. According to Agent Cooper's closest family-friend, Isabella Williamson, Cooper gave her daughter (Alexis Dawn) to Williamson before setting out to complete the mission. Williamson stated, "Lucy told me to tell Alex that if she did die during this mission, that Alex could only be told that she was killed in a car accident. She didn't want Alex to feel that she needed to avenge her death or use her powers for SHIELD; she wanted Alex to become a free independent lady of her own decisions and not born into fighting crime and/or working for SHIELD." _

I didn't know what to think, I almost forgot the basics like how to blink and breathe. Everyone I'd talked to said that it was a car accident, probably the only person who know the truth was Fury. My heart dropped when I read the words again. I still was trying to comprehend everything...I'd been lied to my whole life, not that it was anyone's fault, Mrs. Williamson had only lied to Piper and I because it's what my mother wanted, and maybe it was for the best. I just wanted to be alone, curl up in a ball and imagine that it was all a dream. But I knew Piper and Steve were probably waiting for me.

I flipped to one of the first pages one last time and read my mother's biography, which had a few of her beliefs/opinions.

_Lucy Cooper did not have a "super-hero" name, nor did she ever wear a mask. She believed that using mask and fancy name to hide your true person was a waste. She embraced the fact that people knew her true name and what she could do. _

I felt a few warm tears creep up to my eyes. My mother was a true hero, and I really wish I could've known her. I closed the file and slid it back into it's place. I noticed my own file right behind it; of course it was much thinner, I'd been with these people a couple of months after all. I opened it to find more than expected, they literally knew everything about me; which in a sense was disturbing. My gene structure, my abilities, a biography to the date, everything. I began to read my biography and got concerned when I saw how much they knew about me. They had my real name all over the thing which bothered me. My real name was Alexis, which hardly anyone knew. I just preferred Alex, and my middle name, well, I didn't mind it. Dawn, I guess it fits; I still didn't announce it much.

_Agent Alexis Dawn Cooper of SHIELD - Biography _

_Date of Birth: July 22nd, 1988_

_Place of Birth: Manhattan, NY_

_Family Relations: Mother (Agent Lucy Cooper-Deceased); "Step" Mother (Isabella Williamson); Best Friend/Sister Figure (Piper Williamson). All other relations unknown._

_Meaning of Name: Protector of Humanity_

_Biography: Alexis Cooper began undergoing the profession of the arts early in her lifetime. She took part in many of the school plays all through elementary and middle school. In high school she passed all of her classes with high grades and continued to pursue a career in the arts. She continued preforming in plays as well as taking theater classes, vocal classes, and she was a lead singer in the school choir all four years. Alex learned to play electric guitar and continued studying preforming arts in college. She currently works as a waitress in a small New York café near her apartment that she shares with Piper Williamson. _

"These people are creepy! How do they know this much about me?! Freaks!" I huffed.

"Having fun with your snooping?" A voice chuckled from behind me.

I jumped and spun around; dropping the files in the midst of it all. "Steve! You almost gave me a heart attack! Again!" I called, at first I was mad he snuck up on me, but then I was happy to see him.

"Whoa, calm down jumpy, I was just making sure you didn't get lost or something," he chuckled. We both started picking up all the papers.

"Hey, it's your bio..." he smiled deviously.

"Don't read that!" I shouted

"Why not?" he laughed.

"Because! It's embarrassing! Hand it over, please!" I called. But he just held the paper above his head so I couldn't reach it.

"I'm sure it's not that bad," he smiled. I was jumping trying to reach the paper but he was way too tall.

"Why me?" I huffed in defeat. I just started picking up the rest of the papers and he read my bio.

"You studied the arts?"

"Don't judge," I said.

"I'm not, I'm just a little surprised, you seemed so shy when we first met..."

"Well, according to my prank records, I am not shy, but I kept studying them because I really wanted that to be my job. But sometimes we have to settle for the unexpected, right?"

"And, you sing?"

"Psh, no, they lie. You said it yourself."

"Yeah but the files do _not_ lie." He smiled at me.

"Says who? The file police!" I shouted. I snickered afterwards, "I crack myself up,"

"Whatever, I give up." He chuckled handing me the paper back. I slipped it back into the file and then slid the file back into the drawer. We began to walk out in silence, until Steve broke it.

"Wait, you seriously sing?"

"Oh my gosh why did I let you read that?" I grunted as we continued walking.

"I'm just asking!" he laughed.

"Yes, I _sang, _notice the past tense."

"Alex it's not like I'm asking you to sing to me, I was just curious."

"Okay, like no offense or anything but _good._"

"It cannot be that bad, four years of choir? _And _you were the lead?" he continued on.

"I'm changing the subject! Do you like pandas? What about ducks? Ducks can be fuzzy, right?" I said as we made our way to the door.

Steve just chuckled and rolled his eyes, "Only you, Als."

* * *

A couple of weeks passed, and of course, as I had expected, my boss had fired me. But that didn't matter, SHIELD was paying tons more a month than a ridiculous waitress job at a café. Steve and I had seemed to become closer, he loosened up little by little. He was still really shy if dating terms came up, or if I complemented him he still blushed, same with me. But he felt more like a best friend now more than anything, and I loved him for that. He was always there when I needed him. Piper and I had finally been able to pay off our noise complaint bills, and even had some extra cash to go shopping or eat out every now and then. I had gotten my hair re-done, and I had the colored streaks taken out and dip-dyed the lower half a crimson red, the top remaining black of course.

Work had lightened up, and basically everyone had gotten to live their lives. Tony and Bruce had been gone for a while doing who knows what, Thor had returned to Asgard probably a couple of days after the whole GMO crisis had been averted, Steve stayed in town with Piper and I, and Natasha and Clint, no one knows. I myself think they went back to Budapest, but they don't share much about their assassinating missions.

One morning, I awoke in my warm bed to the bright sun beaming in through my curtains and someone nocking on the apartment door.

"Piper," I groaned. "Someone's at the door," There was no answer. Just another few knocks. "Piper!" I called. Nothing. I finally rolled myself out of bed and walked out to the main room of our apartment; Piper wasn't on the couch. I walked over to the door and opened it, and of course Steve was standing there with his adorable grin on his handsome face.

"Why are you here so early?" I groaned, still half-asleep.

"Good morning to you to, more like good afternoon." he chuckled.

"What time is it?"

"It's almost two, pm."

"Oh gosh! Seriously?!" I said, snapping out of it.

"Yeah," he laughed.

"Oh, my gosh that's embarrassing, just, come in, don't mind the usual mess." I said, rubbing my messy hair. I yawned and made my way to the counter, and I saw a note from Piper. The note read: _Als, bf came by and took me out for today. Sorry for the short notice, I didn't want to wake you since it's only 11am. I should be back by dinner. -Pipes_

"Where's Piper?" Steve asked.

"Boyfriend," I said holding up the note.

"Ah, that explains it." He looked at me for a second, and I watched his eyes keep glancing up.

"What are you looking at?" I asked.

"Hm? Oh, nothing..."

"It's my hair, isn't it?"

"I never said that..."

"Right so you just happen to be glancing at my head for no reason?"

"I didn't say that either..." he smiled.

"Oh my word I'll go fix myself up, just, try and make yourself at home...it's like a bomb went off in here." I muttered as I walked back to the bedroom to get changed. I'd changed in my bedroom before when Steve was in the apartment, and yes he was in the main room probably just looking at the pictures on the wall or something, but I still felt awkward. I locked the door and everything, not that Steve would open the door, but my paranoia always got the best of me.

After I fixed my hair, I got changed into my usual attire; skinny jeans, combat boots, and a shirt with my favorite bands on it; and went back out to see Steve.

"That was fast," he chuckled.

"Because I don't put on makeup like normal girls," I retorted walking back to the kitchen counter. I hoisted myself up onto the counter and sat there.

"Because you don't need to," Steve said, blushing softly.

"Thanks," I smiled, feeling some heat rush to my cheeks as well. "So, did you have any plans for today?"

"Not necessarily, thought we could just spend some time together," he smiled walking up to me.

"Sounds good to me," I smiled.

"But, I thought we could go somewhere and spend that time together in that particular place," he chuckled.

"So your basically asking me out on a date?"

"Yes."

"Sounds even better," I grinned.

* * *

**A/N: In case you didn't catch on, Isabella Williamson is Piper's mother (I'm sure you did but I'm just recapping); and for any of you who watch/watched the Nickelodeon show "House of Anubis" the character Patricia Williamson did have a sister named Piper Williamson, but it was just the first name that came to mind when I was writing. All credits go to Nickelodeon/Studio 100 for the character's name-that was literally all I used lol.**

**So I found this super ironic...the name Alex literally means protector of humanity! I saw that and I was like WHOA THAT JUST BLEW ME OUT OF THE WATER! Like...gosh that's so flipping ironic! Okay, nocturnal outburst over. **Anywho, THAT'S A WRAP! I hope you guys liked this chapter...PLEASE LET ME KNOW BY REVIEWING PEOPLE! DON'T BE AFRAID! ;D Lol had to get that out of my system XD Also thanks again to all those who did review, and keep on following and favorite-ing! It means a bunch! ;D I'll have the next chapter up as soon as I can! :)****


	8. Chapter 8

**Shadowed Past **

**Chapter 8**

_**Hello people XD My apologies for a slow update, summer has been WAY busier than I expected. Okay so the majority of this chapter is Steve and Alex spending some well deserved time together (nothing rated M or anything of that nature). I kind of feel like I'm making Steve a little too OOC but I'm trying my best not to. In some situations it's hard to tell how he might possibly react n stuff. But thanks so much to all of the new followers/favorite-ers and please keep that up! Also, PLEASE REVIEW PEOPLE! XD But seriously thanks to the reviews to far and keeping up with the story. Thanks again for reading and keeping patience with my slow updates! Enjoy! :D**_

***************I DON'T OWN THE AVENGERS OR ANY OF THE CHARATCERS (I wish) AND ONLY THE OC PEOPLE ARE MINE BESIDES THE FACT THAT ALEX'S POWERS/ABILITIES ARE DISNEY'S IDEA***************

* * *

"Really?" Steve smiled, seeming surprised at my response.

"Of course! What else would I do, resort to bird watching?"

"I don't know," he blushed.

"How on Earth could I say no to you, Mr. Rogers?" I smiled, sliding off of the counter and walking up to him.

"A lot of women used to, actually."

"I certainly would have said yes, even before that serum."

"You have no idea what you're saying, you never saw me before the serum."

"I wouldn't have needed to." I smiled up at him and saw a small grin reach across his lips. "Looks don't mean anything, that's something only shallow people pick and choose by, looks. And their relationships never last." I said with confidence. I suddenly felt his warm and soft hand grasp mine, my purple eyes locked with his blue ones. There was silence. Countless thoughts raced through my mind, I'd never felt like this before. I hadn't even known Steve a year yet and it felt like I'd known him a life time. He was always there for me, like my best friend. And yet he cared for me in other ways besides a best friend. He was like the stitches to heal my wounds, to tie them up and help them heal.

My thoughts suddenly got stirred when I heard his voice. "Als?"

"Yeah?" I smiled.

I saw his cheeks flush before he spoke, "Umm, maybe, we should get going?" He stammered.

"That sounds nice," I laughed softly. Our hands slowly separated and I brushed some of my hair behind my ear awkwardly before I walked over to the door to grab my jacket. "Where are we headed to?" I spoke up.

"I think I know just the place," Steve chuckled as we walked out the door.

"Oh no not another surprise..." I huffed, Steve knew how much I hated surprises.

"I promise you'll like this one," he smiled.

"Okay, sure, right, and watch me end up breaking something or getting us kicked out of a store."

"How many stores have you been kicked out of exactly?"

"I honestly can't remember. All's I remember is I couldn't go anywhere with Piper after 9th grade because I would just have to wait outside, so, that probably means a lot."

"How?"

"I don't even know, I'm just weird like that. But yet sometimes I'm shy, I'm just a strange person overall. Let's settle for it that way." I said. I heard him chuckled softly at my ranting; I ranted about something different everyday. Maybe it was a movie coming out, or the newspaper, but if I ranted about politics it just got ugly, fast.

We walked down the bustling streets without talking for a few moments, I was taking in everything that was going on. Angry words, honking cars, the usual drill in the city. I just kept wondering about where we were going...surprises certainly got me hyper without a doubt. I just didn't like the fact that someone had something planned, for me, and that I didn't know what it was going to be. I mean some surprises can be good, while others can be bad, like a criminal jumping out from behind a dumpster to mug you or something of that nature.

My thoughts were interrupted by Steve's warming voice. "We're here," he said softly.

I looked over to my right and saw an old church. "What are we doing here?"

"You'll see," he grinned slightly.

Steve and I walked in, this church was huge. The floors were white marble and massive stained glass windows lined the sanctuary. "Just wait here, okay?"

"Um, sure, can I ask what are you up to?"

"Just hold on," he flashed a smile. He walked over to the main church office and someone let him in.

I leaned my back against the wall and crossed my arms. I even let my head drift back. I looked up and saw glass teardrops dangling from chandeliers amongst the ceiling. Rays of light shone through them, just barely reaching the marble walls before fading away into mid-air. I stood still for about thirty more seconds before I couldn't help it anymore. It was quiet, lifeless, and there was tons of new turf to explore. I took a good look at my surroundings before getting a sly grin on my face and fading into the air much like the rays of light above me.

"I love invisibility," I muttered as I started walking around. The soft tapping of my combat boots still echoed off the walls softly, but I didn't even care anymore. I just wanted to know why Steve brought me here of all places, and what there was to see in a church this big.

I poked my head into the sanctuary; the room was filled with colors pouring in from the stain glass windows. The shadows of said glass were dancing along the wooden pews in all different shapes and sizes. I walked my way down the main isle, and one thought came to mind. A wedding. The last time I'd walked down an isle like this, I was the flower girl to one of Piper's cousin's wedding. Piper had severe stage fright as a little girl, and at last second she got too scared, so they sent me out to do it. I froze in my tracks and my eyes slowly followed the red carpet up to the altar. I remembered the white rose petals that I dropped; their soft touch on my finger pads, and that smooth, soft petal falling from the grooves of my small hands and drifting softly to the ground.

My emotions took the best of me and my shadow faded into the scene as my body re-appeared. I was staring at the altar, lost in thought. So much was flooding back to me, even things I didn't know I could remember. The rose petals, being in a wedding as a flower girl, the red carpet, everything. I wasn't sure what to be overwhelmed by, the fact I could remember all of this, or the fact that I had a happy time in my childhood and that I couldn't remember it until now.

"Hey, I asked you to wait out there," Steve's voice echoed through the sanctuary.

I felt my nerves tense and spike up at the sound of his voice, but as soon as I spun around and my eyes met with his, they immediately clamed. "Sorry, I wander. Okay speak up, why are we here and why were you in a church office for like ten minutes?"

"Just follow me, I think you'll like it."

"What on Earth could you be showing me in a church?" I muttered as I walked towards him. He held out his hand to my surprise, and I softly grasped it. He led me out to the back, the graveyard. "Steve, what are we doing here?" I said, fear in my voice. I felt my hands tense; I hated graveyards, the fact that I was surrounded by decaying bodies/skeletons under the ground always gave me the chills.

"Listen, before you think I'm crazy, I brought you here; and I talked to the secretary in there because, I was positive they had your mother buried here, and they confirmed it. I thought you might like to see her grave."

_Can he read minds? _I'd been thinking that for as long as I could remember. I had never known where she was buried though, and that was the only thing that had stopped me. "Steve, I can't even," I felt hot tears creeping up to my eyes but I blinked them away. "Thank you," I finally breathed.

"Anything for you, Als," he smiled.

"I guess, let's go find, her," I said.

"Yeah, the secretary said she should be on the right side towards the back, but not all the way."

"Okay, let's go check this out."

We let go of each other's hand and I opened the old, vintage, black gates. We walked in and began making our way around, scanning the names on each gravestone. The sun shone brightly through a few trees surrounding the graveyard, and there was a small breeze blowing.

"What was her name again?" Steve asked.

"Lucy Cooper," I replied. We walked around the stones in silence for awhile before I finally noticed her name. "I think I found her!" I almost cried, but I held back. I got down on my knees, Steve kneeling beside me, and ran my fingers across the cold stone lettering.

_Lucy Anne Cooper _

_January 28th 1957-May 29th, 1989_

_A hero isn't afraid to give their life for another. May this hero rest in peace. _

"That's all?"

"What do you mean that's all?" Steve asked.

"I just, I don't know, I thought there might be more..." I said.

"I mean I guess they can't fit that much on a gravestone..."

"Yeah, I'm just not sure. Plus look how new this is...shouldn't it be super old and dirty like the other ones? I mean this has been here for a little over twenty years after all..." I paused. "I don't know, I guess I just expected there to be more about her, but...eh, maybe it's just me." I said.

It was silent for a moment before Steve spoke, "Do you want a moment alone?"

"Do you mind?"

"Not at all." He grinned, rubbing his hand across my back before standing and walking back to the church.

I fought back tears for what felt like forever before I finally let them begin to fall. "I'm not sure what to say first..." I sniffled. "Um, Hi, Mom...I guess I've never really said hello before huh?" More tears trailed down my cheeks and into the damp grass. "I just, I just want to say thank you, for, everything you did...and..." Now I was officially crying, which was a very rare thing of me to do. "I just wish I could've met you, just once, but I understand that everything happens for a reason, and I think that maybe we didn't meet because then maybe we would've fought a lot, or, something, oh gosh I don't know, I'm just listing excuses..." I swallowed hard, feeling the painful knot grow in my throat. I cried hard for quite a while before I finally spoke again, "I love you, mom." I was able to choke out a few lines to a song before I began bawling again, "_And I've lost, who I am, and I can't understand, why my heart, is so broken, rejecting over, love without, love gone wrong, lifeless words, carry on..._" I stopped there. I officially lost the strength to speak. I sobbed for who knows how long until I realized Steve was by my side again.

"Hey, are you ready to go?" I heard his voice in my ear, his hand on my back. I was curled up in a ball resting my face on my knees.

I looked up and wiped my tears away, "I guess, If we stay here I'll keep crying like a baby," I sniffled.

"Are you sure I should've brought you here?"

"Yes, I needed to get that out of my system...you have no idea how relieved I feel," I sniffled yet again, wiping away the last of the few tears.

He grinned slightly before standing up and offering me a hand. I took his warm hand and tried to pull myself up, but couldn't manage. I was too weak.

"May I?" He asked, bending down to pick me up.

"I don't think you'd be able to carry me for that long..."

"Is that a joke?" he asked.

"No, no, sorry, just, insecurities..." I sniffled again. He slipped his right arm under my knees and put his other across my back, picking me up bridal style. "Are you seriously going to carry me back to the apartment like this? I look like a gigantic child. Tear stains, red nose..."

"I think you look just fine," he said, blushing.

"Thanks, for, everything," I muttered softly before just giving in and resting my head against his chest.

"Anytime," he chuckled. I felt his chest rumble when he spoke and a small blush crept over my cheeks.

* * *

Steve carried me for a few blocks down the street before I decided to try and walk again. "Are you sure?" he asked, looking down at me.

"Yeah, I think I'll be okay," I said. Steve helped me stand up and we started walking again. "Where are we headed to anyways?"

"Don't you want something to eat? It's like six..." Steve said.

"Um, sure, I guess. Do you know a good place?"

"This place had been around since _I _was little, and we all know that's been almost a century ago."

"Oh gosh I'm scared..." I chuckled.

"Don't be, I promise it's probably some of the best pizza you'll ever have,"

"So it's pizza then?"

"Yeah, it's pizza." he smiled.

* * *

In the restaurant Steve and talked for what felt like forever while waiting for the food, and the topic of my mother came up again.

"Are you sure that was a good idea?" Steve asked.

"About what? Her grave?"

"Yeah...I mean, I feel bad, I didn't mean to make you upset..."

"You didn't make me upset, Steve. Do you know how long I've waited to just, say hello to my own mother? I feel like I got a huge burden off my shoulders...I can't say thank you enough." I smiled.

"Well, in that case, you're welcome." He replied.

"But, I do have to apologize, for, crying, like that..."

"Why are you sorry?"

"I don't know, I never cry that hard, at least not in public..."

"You just miss your mom, there's nothing wrong with that." Steve said.

I just smiled back at his politeness. That was only another reason why I adored him. He loved me for my flaws, my screw ups...he loved me for everything that everyone else hated.

"Thanks, again." I blushed slightly.

"No problem." He smiled back.

* * *

That evening Steve ended up taking me back to his place. I hadn't seen his apartment yet and was deathly curious to. I was expecting like a 40's themed room and possibly even no TV. But I was surprised by how modern it was.

"So, you like it?" Steve grinned as we walked in.

"Yeah," I breathed. "It's so, clean..."

"Thanks, I don't really do much so it's basically stayed the same way it looked since I first moved in."

"That's still better than my place, there's clothes everywhere and Piper and I can barely keep up with the dishes for the two of us."

"Your place looks fine, it's not that bad. Anyways, do you want to watch a movie, or, just talk, I mean, I'm not sure what else to do." Steve chuckled.

"I don't know either to be honest...Piper said she'd be home by dinner but she knows I'll come home, eventually..." I chuckled.

Steve just blushed softly and smiled at me.

"What are you grinning at?" I said crossing my arms.

"Nothing, nothing," he chuckled, slipping his hands into his pockets and looking at the ground, a soft blush still across his cheeks.

"Tell me..." I said.

"It's nothing, I promise."

"Yeah, like I'll believe that one." I deadpanned.

"I was just smiling about you, is that wrong?"

"Why were you smiling about me?" I said.

"I just think it's cute when you get all serious, and, I don't know," Steve blushed.

"Don't even get me started on the word cute, I am not cute, I am a genetically orientated freak who lacks mental intelligence and good looks. And I'm proud." I grinned.

"Alex, don't say that about yourself." Steve said walking up to me.

"Why not?"

"Because, you know that's not the truth."

"So it's a lie that I can't do this?" I chuckled making a small force field with my hand.

"No, not that part. You are beautiful, and smart. You smile no matter how you really feel, you hide your scars, and that's amazing. You are the first person I've ever met who is so kind and loving..." He trailed off.

"Thank you," I smiled.

"You're welcome." He replied.

"For, everything," I breathed. "You've helped me, so much, it's, unexplainable."

"I love you, Alex," Steve blurted out.

I felt my eyes light up and small smile creep across my lips. I looked up at him and saw the fear in his eyes that I would laugh or say something ridiculous. "And I love you too, Steve." I smiled. I got so excited I pulled him into a hug without even realizing it; my head resting on his muscular chest. His hands slowly snaked around the small of my back and he hugged me back. I looked up at him and I suddenly realized our faces were inches apart. We both started to lean in and I closed my eyes just before I felt his lips touch mine.

I never believed in all my days I would ever fall in love with a guy who loved me back, but here I was, sharing my first kiss with Steve Rogers, Captain America.

We pulled back slowly and I couldn't help but giggle. "What are you laughing at?" he chuckled, our faces still close.

"I just never thought a guy would actually kiss me," I blushed.

"Never underestimate yourself."

"I'll try my best." I grinned.

* * *

Later that night, Steve walked me home around eight. I walked into my apartment with an upset look on my face, just to have a little fun joking around with Piper.

"Hey! Als! You're finally back! I was getting worried!" Piper shouted rushing over to me and wrapping me in a hug.

"Yeah, finally," I exhaled.

"What's wrong?" Piper asked pulling away from the hug.

"Nothing, it's just..."

"What?! Who hurt you?!"

"Nobody...I'm just..."

"WHAT HAPPENED CHILD?!" she shouted shaking me by the shoulders.

I started smiling and blurted out, "Nothing's wrong, Steve kissed me!" I squealed.

"Seriously?!" she squealed.

"Yes!"

We grabbed hands and started jumping up and down squealing with excitement but stopped when there was a loud banging on the wall.

"Will you two quiet down?!" The man in the apartment next to us yelled.

"Sorry!" Piper exclaimed.

We both had to cover out mouths because we started laughing so hard.

"At least it's not another noise complaint bill," I breathed after calming myself down.

"Don't jinx it." Piper deadpanned. We stayed serious for about two seconds before cracking up again. I ran over to the couch and hid my face in a pillow so my laughter wouldn't disturb our neighbors. Piper basically fell down onto the floor and covered her hands with her face in the midst of dying from laughing so hard.

* * *

Even later that night; rather close to midnight to be exact, Piper was asleep in the bed and was awake on the couch on our new laptop. Piper and I gotten enough money from SHIELD to buy one which was amazing. I was doing a little web surfing when I thought of my mom's gravestone. It seemed so new...fake almost. I decided to do a little research. I looked around for hours online until I finally found it; my gut was right. Someone of the name Lucy Cooper who was born and died on the exact same day as my mother was buried in New York as well. Only a few blocks down from the church I was at earlier, which was even weirder. I shut the computer lid and darted up off of the couch. I slipped on my black sweatshirt and combat boots before darting out the door. I still had my skinny jeans on from earlier, I honestly had forgotten about pajamas since I was so "busy" on the internet.

Once I was out the main lobby of my building I turned invisible, and started running down the street. I had to dodge a few people walking by, but not too many. I had to slow down every time someone walked by or else they would hear my boots clacking on the cold sidewalk. That got annoying sometimes. Why couldn't invisibility put me on mute or something too?

I finally arrived at the church that supposedly had my mother's second grave. I ran to the back and jumped the fence, feeling a sharp pain in my arm. I just then remembered that my arm had been wounded; I literally had completely forgotten about it being so fed up with Steve. But I felt the cold night air nip at my boney cheeks and exposed hands, and I remembered where I was. Chills shot to my bones and my nerves spiked instantly. "Okay, Alex, calm down, shh, it's okay, you're in a graveyard at..." I was interrupted by a clock donging down the street. "Midnight..." I exhaled, terrified. "Just, find the gravestone, and go, gravestone, go, gravestone, go..." I keep whispering rapidly as I shoved my chilled hands in the front pouch on my sweatshirt and began sneaking around. My eyes shot from grave to grave, still nothing. The graveyard wasn't terribly large, but it was a decent size.

Ten minutes passed, and still nothing. I'd seen so many names I almost forgot which name I was looking for. Until finally, my eyes locked on her name. Lucy Cooper. I fell to my knees and ran my fingers across the thin layer of dust and dirt across the bitter cold marble stone. This had to be her real grave. I felt silly for crying at a fake grave, but at the same time I didn't. I know she heard me, I just hadn't had the courage or time to sit down and talk to her before. I felt a small smile come across my face as I got lost in my own thoughts, but suddenly I remembered something more interesting. Why would she have a fake grave?

I instantly stood and began running across the grass. I jumped the back fence again but remembered to use my non-injured arm. My boots made a loud click when they hit the sidewalk, and I froze. There wasn't anyone around, thankfully. I just began my run down the street to the original church that I had cried at, the church with the fake grave.

* * *

After more fence jumping and running through a graveyard, I bent down on my knees again at the fake grave. "What are you hiding?" I whispered to myself as I began looking all over the marble. I felt my fingers slide across something small engraved in the back of the stone at the bottom of it. I moved to the back and moved some of the grass out of the way to reveal the very bottom of the stone, and I saw the logo that sent fear through my veins; the SHIELD logo.

I noticed it seemed separate from the stone, almost like a button. I pushed on it gently, and sure enough it slid into the gravestone.

Silence.

I leaned back and exhaled, "Nothing. How could there be nothing?"

Suddenly, a heard a deep rumble, and the ground shook. As I stood it only shook more, making it harder to maintain my balance. The ground shook so hard, I fell forward onto the gravestone, and instead of receiving pain from the impact, the stone fell through the ground, taking me with it.

* * *

**_Taa-daa! :D _**

**_Sorry for the cliffhanger, I hate them myself but they make a good story am I right? So the song that Alex basically whispered while she was crying at her mom's first grave was "Shattered" by Trading Yesterday. I took some of the song from about halfway through when it fades from a super boring guitar-only slow song to a slight rock song XD So credits to that song and the band :) It was the saddest song I could find out of all my music honestly...and I guess the lyrics fit...I don't know lol. _**

**_But I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! PLEASE REVIEW AND LET ME KNOW! :D But thanks so much again for reading and keeping up with my horribly slow updates, please continue following and favorite-ing as well! ;) I honestly don't have much to say (shocking I know) so again thanks and I'll update as soon as I can! :D _**


	9. Chapter 9

**Shadowed Past**

**Chapter 9**

_**Hey guys! Thanks for reading and waiting for my slow-ish update as always XD Also thanks for all the follows, favorites and reviews! XD So this is Chapter 9...wow. I actually didn't think this story would even make it to 9 chapters. I am very glad it did though XD So please keep all the following and all that up and enjoy! **_

*****************I DON'T OWN THE AVENGERS OR ANY OF THE CHARATCERS (I wish) AND ONLY THE OC PEOPLE ARE MINE BESIDES THE FACT THAT ALEX'S POWERS/ABILITIES ARE DISNEY'S IDEA*****************

* * *

I screamed as my decent into the darkness continued. I saw the gravestone stop falling, and in a split second I collided with the cool stone, one of the sharp edges stabbing my gut. I hissed in pain and rolled myself off of it.

"Ow, ow, ow, oh gosh that hurts..." I whimpered, sitting up to roll my sweatshirt back and check my abdomen. It was punctured pretty deep, and blood was seeping out from the wound. There was a bit more rumbling and I looked up to large chunks of dirt falling from the moonlit graveyard. I quickly made a force field around myself and watched the dirt slam into the glowing purple waves and crumble into small pieces as it hit and then rolled onto the hard and dusty floor. I kept the field up for a second to be safe. Once I dropped it I was almost blinded by the light of the full moon. "Great." I huffed, standing, brushing myself off. I tried to apply pressure to stop the bleeding, but it caused more pain to actually apply the pressure so I didn't bother. I tried to look around as well but the only light was the stream of moonlight in which I was standing in, the ray of light was only a bit larger than me; being the gravestone was the only thing that fell in with me.

I thought about what to do for a second, and then it dawned on me. "How could I be so stupid?!" I said as I lit up a force field ball with my hand. I gasped instantly at my eyes saw, skeletons, everywhere. My empty hand covered my chest, and I felt the fear slowly fade away in my mind. "Okay, calm down...they're...dead..." I gulped. I waved my hand around like a torch as I slowly began to walk closer to a few of the skeletons. I noticed that one of them had something in it's hand. "Am I really going to do this?" I gulped, glancing at the limp composition of dusty bones. I squatted down and closed my eyes, inhaling a deep breath before deciding to finally reach forward and unravel the hand. I quickly slipped out the small metal item in it's hand and stood back up, backing away. "I'm losing my mind..." I muttered to myself as I looked at the item.

It was a ring. Just a silver ring. I slid my fingers over the dusty piece of jewelry, and to my surprise I saw something engraved on the side of the ring.

_21-48-92_

"Weird..." I whispered. I slipped the ring on my right ring finger and continued my search. There wasn't much to see, just skeletons in every corner of what appeared to be a small room. "You've got to be kidding me. Nothing else? So what I fall through a freaking fake grave at midnight for this tiny little room full of freaking skeletons?!" I muttered under my breath. However, another question pondered my mind. The floor was flat cement, not dirt...why? I looked at the beam of moonlight flooding in from the hole in the ground up above, and noticed a design in the floor. I bent down and blew some of the dirt away, but it didn't reveal too much of the picture.

I released the field I'd been holding in my hand and stood to my feet. "Here goes nothing..." I whispered with a deep exhaled before I made a bigger force field and swiped it across the cement floor. The purple wave of energy drifted across the hard floor brushing the dirt away with it. The floor had the logo on it that shouldn't have surprised me at all.

The old and original SHIELD logo.

* * *

_**Third Person POV** _

Meanwhile:

Piper stirred in bed, finally allowing her eyes to peel open. She sat up in bed, rubbing her eyes and looking over at the nightstand. The digital clock read 12:32am. She looked up at the doorway and realized that the living room lamp was still on. "Alex?" she groaned. "Are you still up?" There was no answer. Piper huffed and threw the covers off of her legs and stumbled out of bed. "Alex, come on..." Piper froze when she saw that nobody was there. "Alex?" she gasped. She ran over to the kitchen counter and looked around for a note Alex could have left. Nothing. She ran to the bathroom, Alex wasn't in there either. She even looked under the bed. "Alex! Stop playing games!" Piper called as she walked back into the main room. She looked over and saw Alex's boots were gone, and her sweatshirt.

Piper thought of one person Alex could be with at this time of night. Steve. Piper looked down at her outfit and moaned. "Am I really going to visit and attractive guy in the middle of the night wearing shorts and a sweatshirt?" She hesistated for about two seconds and something in her mind said, _Do it for Alex. _

Without another word Piper slipped on a pair of running sneakers and ran out the door. Alex had told her where Steve lived, and Piper had it locked in her mind in case of emergencies. Piper seemed like a ditzy girl who only cared about dresses, the color pink, and glitter on the outside, but on the inside, she was strong; she even had a mother like side about her the way she cared about Alex. She would do anything for Alex, they were basically sisters after all.

When Piper arrived at Steve's apartment building, she sprinted up the stairs to his apartment door. She knocked softly, just wondering if Steve was possibly awake. No response.

"God Bless America," she hissed to herself as she took a bobby pin out of her hair and squatted down on her knees to pick his lock. It took her about twenty seconds before she heard a click and opened the doorknob. She ran in and headed straight for the door she assumed to be a bedroom; she was right.

"Steve!" she shouted, flipping the light on.

Steve squinted at the sudden bright light and shot up in bed. "Piper! What the-how did you get in here!?"

"Bobby pin! Now where's Alex?! Is she sleeping here?!"

"What?! No! What the heck are you talking about?!"

"She's missing! She didn't leave me a note, and she left, I don't know when! I thought she would be here with you if anything but other than that I don't know where she would be!" Piper shouted feeling tears well up to her eyes. She fought them harshly, there was no way she was going to embarrass herself AGAIN in front of Steve.

"What do you mean she's missing? Just, gone?" Steve said way more calmly than Piper, getting up out of bed.

"Yes! And I have no idea where she could be!" Piper shouted again.

"Shh, calm down, we'll go look for her." He replied walking up to her. Steve was in grey sweatpants and a white t-shirt, nothing out of character for him.

"Where?"

"I think I know where." Steve said. "Follow me."

* * *

Back with Alex:

"Why am I surprised?" I breathed, stepping back to look at the massive logo. "There's got to be more here than this." I said as I started walking around one last time, another force field ball levitating above my hand as my torch. I kept looking around; basically doing circles around this small room. "Why would they just hide a ring down here? What is this lord of the rings gone reality?"

Suddenly I heard thumping and some small crumbs of dirt snowed down from above. "The gravestone was right here..." I heard Steve's voice and recognized it instantly.

"Steve! I'm in here!" I called, running over to the beam of light, dropping the field in my hand.

"Alex! What happened!?" Piper yelped, relived yet terrified.

"The gravestone fell in! Apparently my mother is buried a few blocks down the street..." I muttered, looking around.

"Well get out of there!" Piper called in.

"Oh yeah and what am I gonna do?! Fly?! I'm not tinker bell!" I hissed.

"Are you hurt?!" Steve called down.

"Kind of...my abdomen got punctured by the stone when I fell," I said, feeling a sharp sting of pain from the cut.

"Are you bleeding heavily?" he asked.

I reached down to feel my sweatshirt, and there was a decent sized spot where the blood had soaked though my shirt AND sweatshirt around the gash in the fabric...so yes. I was bleeding heavily.

"Kinda..." I gulped, feeling the cold liquid on my sweatshirt.

"Hold on, I'll get you out of there." Steve breathed before darting off.

"Where's he going?"

"Beats me." Piper shrugged.

Steve was back in seconds with an old rope. "Where the heck did you find that?! And that fast?!" I half chuckled.

"It was next to the church..." Steve said awkwardly glancing back and forth between Piper and I.

"Just throw her the rope!" Piper chirped playfully hitting him on the arm.

Steve tossed the end half of the rope down and I grabbed onto it. He began to pull me up and felt a heavier pain in my abdomen since my skin was being pulled tight. Once I was up, Steve helped me stand and pulled me into a hug. "Alright, let's get you patched up." he breathed, tossing the rope aside and picking me up again like he did before.

"Awww!" Piper cooed. "You guys are so cute together!"

"Uh, thanks?" Steve said, confused. I just shot her a death glare.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"We need to take you to a hospital, you've probably lost over a pint of blood already!" Piper exclaimed.

"But I feel fine..."

"You won't be saying that in twenty minutes..." Piper muttered as they started to walk to the back of the graveyard.

* * *

When we arrived at the emergency room, a nurse came over to us quickly.

"What happened to her?"

"She was in a fight and she's lost a lot of blood and still is." Piper said seriously. I don't think I'd ever seen Piper this serious before. And I'd never seen her that serious when she _lied _before. I'd taught her well.

"Alright, follow me." the nurse said.

_Not more stitches..._I thought to myself as she led us to a room and pulled out a tray with what looked like stitching tools. Another nurse came in and gave me and IV for extra blood.

I sat on the edge of the hard table like thing (the things you sit on in the doctor's office) that had a thin layer of paper over it for a sheet; dangling my feet off of the edge. The nurse told me to lay back, I gulped and did as I was told. I laid down with a light practically blinding me and tried to ignore the pain as the nurse stitched me up. I hated needles, I hated IV's, I basically hated injuries in general because of the consequences that came with them; and by that I meant the hospital.

"Alright, all done. Just stay here for a while and let the IV do it's magic," the nurse said sweetly rolling my shirt back down.

"Thanks," I muttered, sitting up and hissing slightly at the tension that was in my abdomen.

After the nurse left Piper finally spoke up, "Was that so bad?"

I glanced at the needle in my arm and back up at her. "Yes." I hissed through clenched teeth.

"You'll live. Well, I don't know about you guys, but, I have to pee." she said before darting out of the room.

"She speaks whatever comes to mind, doesn't she?" I chuckled.

"You can say that again." Steve muttered, flashing a smile. "Are you sure that you're going to be okay?"

"Yeah, I jumped off a building didn't I?"

We both laughed a little. There was a bit of awkward silence before Steve broke it.

"I'm sorry, about, the other night..." he said, embarrassed.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm sorry I kind of, blurted out an 'I Love You' so fast, and, kissed you..."

"Steve, you didn't do anything wrong, I love you too, I even said so myself. And us kissing made my day, no, not even, that like made my month, probably life." I smiled. "I never thought a guy would have the nerve to even consider me..."

"Stop saying that, Alex, your beautiful." He said walking up in front of me.

"Thanks," I blushed.

"And I mean it,"

"I know, I know..." I blushed as he put his hand on my shoulder.

"Alex," he said, almost sternly.

"I believe you! I promise!" I laughed.

"Positive?"

"Yes, _dad_," I joked. Steve just rolled his eyes at my remark. "I'm just kidding," I chuckled.

"I know," he grinned. His smiled killed me every single time I saw it, literally. I couldn't help but smile myself.

There was a bit more silence before I finally broke it this time. "Steve?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you," I smiled.

"I love you too," he replied wrapping his arms around me gently. I rested my head on his shoulder and felt the heat burn on my cheeks. We enjoyed our hug for about ten seconds before Piper walked in.

"Oh my gosh you guys are so cute together! I can't stop fangirling!" Piper squealed. We quickly pulled back and looked at each other before looking over at Piper. "What? It's true you didn't just see me squee and jump up and down?"

"Trust me, we saw you," I smiled at her. "Ugh how much longer to I have to be here?!" I groaned.

"I can go get a nurse if you want..." Piper trailed off.

"Do you mind?"

"Nah, hold on I'll be right back," she smiled before leaving again.

"It's only been like ten minutes, not even probably more like five," Steve chuckled.

"Shh, I'm just curious. It's past one in the morning and I'm exhausted." I yawned.

"Join the club." Steve muttered. "But tell me this much, what did you actually see down there? Bodies?"

"Skeletons, but, not much else."

"How did the grave even fall in?"

"There was a button with the SHIELD eagle on the back and I pushed it."

"Why would you push it?"

"Well the last thing on my mind was that the freaking grave was going to fall in I just thought it would be a secret compartment or something..."

"I can imagine. So there wasn't anything else down there?"

"Oh! I forgot! I found this in a skeleton's hand..." I said, pulling the ring off my finger.

"21-48-92? What does that mean?" Steve said, looking at the ring closely closely.

"I don't know, but I really want to find out. I mean why would she have a fake grave just to hide some silly old ring?"

"Mysteries are not my topic." Steve said.

"They aren't really mine either..." I chuckled looking at the ring closely again. "Just, don't say anything to Piper yet. I mean I might but I think I'm going to wait, she's got a mouth the size of a black hole."

"A black hole, huh?" he laughed at my use of words.

"Yep, pretty much. Which I can be quite a talker myself but she is just...different."

Suddenly I heard Piper yacking to some nurse and their voices were getting louder as they approached the door. I quickly slipped the ring back on my finger and looked up at the door awaiting it's opening.

"How are we doing?" the nurse asked after they entered.

"Fine," I smiled politely, "I was just curious as to how much more blood I would need..."

"Well," she exhaled, walking over to the IV bag, "You lost close to a pint of blood, and you've gotten like 35% of this bag, you basically need almost the rest of the bag to be safe. So I'd say, ten, fifteen more minutes? It shouldn't take any longer than that."

"Okay, that should be fine, thank you." I did my best to smile.

"No problem," she grinned, leaving again. I waited until the door was shut before exhaling like a little kid.

"Fifteen minutes?! I'm like most inpatient person ever! Uggghhh why do I always get injured?! Is it karma or something?!" I groaned.

"Maybe it's karma for sneaking out in the middle of the night," Piper grinned proudly at her smarty response.

"Pipes I was on the verge of something big I just couldn't wait till morning..."

"Uh, you could have, I mean at least wake me up before leaving next time!" she said, gently hitting me on the arm.

"Sorry, impatient," I shrugged.

"Touché..." Piper muttered.

I suddenly caught myself in a yawn, remembering that it was probably getting close to two in the morning. "Steve, you can go back home if you want, Piper and I can head back and be okay."

"No, Alex, I'm not leaving you. I'm not going back home until I know your safe in bed." Steve said in an almost commanding voice.

We both looked over a Piper awaiting her outburst, but she just had a huge smile spread across her face. "What do you want me to squeal?"

"No, no, it's fine." I chuckled.

* * *

**_Third Person POV _**

After I'd finally gotten enough blood to go home, Steve carried me, again. Not that I didn't enjoy it, it just felt...weird. Nobody had ever carried me since I was probably a baby.

When we got back to the apartment door, Piper realized she'd forgotten to lock it. "Oops," she muttered before swinging the door open. "Whew, the laptop's still there." she exhaled. "Did you leave it on, Alex?" There was no response. "Alex?" Piper asked again. She turned around to see Alex asleep in Steve's arms. Piper had to cover her mouth so she didn't make any noises. "When did she fall asleep?" Piper whispered, dropping her hands, a massive grin across her face.

"I don't know, the last time I looked down at her she was awake," Steve whispered.

"Well let's just get her in bed," Piper whispered again motioning to the bedroom. She walked in pulled away her messy ball of blankets from earlier, so Steve could lay Alex down easier.

Once Alex was in bed Steve pulled the covers back over her and placed a small kiss on her forehead. Piper stood behind Steve, just watching with a small grin on her face. She was so happy for Alex, she couldn't even express it.

Piper and Steve tip-toed out of the room; Piper closing the door quietly behind them. "I can't thank you enough for doing this, even though I kind of dragged you into it...sorry about that..." Piper said, biting her lip.

"It's no problem, you were just worried about Alex, I probably would've done the same thing." Steve said soothingly.

"Well go on home, get some rest," Piper said softly as they walked towards the door.

"You too, night, Piper." Steve smiled.

"Night," she grinned.

"Wait, one thing, what are we going to do about the huge hole in the graveyard?" Steve asked.

"We were never there..." Piper said seriously.

"But-"

"No buts. We were never, there." she winked.

"Piper, this is a church we're talking about here,"

"What church? Psh, I think the lack of sleep is getting to you..." Piper acted clueless.

"I give up," Steve smiled, "Night, Piper."

"Night," Piper chuckled before gently shutting the door.

* * *

_**And thus, another chapter is complete! XD So for like the whole scene in the hospital when Alex was getting blood I honestly had no idea how long it would take so I just guessed. It might take like an hour but I wasn't sure so yeah XD But I do seriously need to thank you guys for all of the follows, favorites and reviews! Almost everyday there is a follow or favorite in my inbox, and sometimes a review too! :D **_

_**Also, keep your eyes peeled for another Avengers fanfic I'll be publishing soon called "Decoding Secrets". It's going to be another Steve/OC (eventual) love story, because I love him so much (XD), and it's going to center around a girl named Raven who's in her third year of community college and lives with her Gran. But when Raven's grandma decides to move to an assisted living place Raven's summer plans get scrambled. She has to live with her Uncle Phil who she didn't even know existed until now. But to her surprise she decodes some secrets and gets herself into some trouble. I can't give away everything so that's like a teaser I guess XD And yes, her Uncle Phil is none other than the Phil Coulson. It sounds cheesy but I promise it gets better, I don't think it'll be as suspenseful/"dramatic" as Shadowed Past but I still hope you guys like it :D**_

_**Anyways, I can't say thank you enough for all the follows and stuff and please keep all that up! XD I'll update as soon as I can! ;)**_


	10. Chapter 10

**Shadowed Past **

**Chapter 10**

_**Hey everyone! I am so so so sorry for the extremely late update but I've been busy off the walls :( May I just say, THANK YOU! The amount of reviews I got after my last update was AMAZING! Thanks for all the helpful tips and/or comments! XD I also got some follows/faves too, thanks for those as well! XD Also thanks for checking out the story, keeping up with it and having patience with my slow updating! :)**_

_**I also have a little fun-fact for you guys. Most of you probably don't know about the band Skillet, but they are like my all time favorite band lol (Panheads rule!). Anyways, one of their songs, "The Last Night" is like Alex's and Steve's theme song (in a way). There's like two lyrics about parents but other than that it's like...their song! IT'S CRAZY! The song tells a story about a girl with scars on her wrists (Alex) and the chorus is like a friend being there for the girl who's suffering. It just totally fits their story. So feel free to check it out if you want XD It's a pretty hard rock song but I love that kind of stuff XD The song is from the album "Comatose" (2006). So yeah ;D**_

_**Well here's chapter 10, I hope you all like it and please keep up the reviews/favorites/follows! XD Enjoy! :D**_

*****************I DON'T OWN THE AVENGERS OR ANY OF THE CHARATCERS (I wish) AND ONLY THE OC PEOPLE ARE MINE BESIDES THE FACT THAT ALEX'S POWERS/ABILITIES ARE DISNEY'S IDEA*****************

* * *

_**Alex's POV**_

I awoke to the sunlight pouring in through the cracks in the curtains; it took me a second to realize I was in my own bed, back at the apartment. The last thing I'd remembered was being at the hospital, and dozing off in Steve's arms. I sat up, hissing at the surge of pain that shot through my abdomen. The freaking stitches. I'd pleasantly forgotten already, but it looks like that dream was over.

I used all the strength I had to stand up, and looking down I realized I was still in my dirty and bloody clothes. I walked out into the living room and noticed that Piper was asleep on the couch with her head hanging off the cushion. A slight chuckle escaped my mouth before I walked back into the bedroom and went to the restroom. The reflection in the mirror scared me more than I had expected. My hair was all frizzy and tangled, my face had smudges of dirt, and the nasty clothes didn't help either. "Gosh, I look homeless or something..." I muttered, trying to rub some of the mud off of my cheeks. I then noticed the ring on my finger, and saw the numbers engraved in the metal.

Darn it.

I'd forgotten about that. Another "pleasant" reminder like the stitches. Great, now there was some crazy mystery behind these mysterious numbers and why my mother had a fake grave. I'd just thought everything was over, that maybe I could enjoy a semi-normal break since there hadn't been any missions lately, but it looks like I'd jinxed myself.

* * *

After I got a shower and cleaned myself up, Piper had finally woken up.

"Morning," she yawned when I walked out into the main room. I was in clean clothes and was in the middle of drying my hair with a towel.

"Morning," I chuckled back. "You actually slept later than me for once."

"Hey, you didn't have a panic attack in the middle of the night to find out your sister was missing."

"And you didn't fall fifteen feet into a room full of skeletons, get your abdomen cut open by a gravestone or have to get stitches and an IV."

"Touché..." Piper muttered as she began looking for something to eat for breakfast.

I walked over to the counter across from her and leaned on it, resting my arms on the cold granite. Piper did the same as I did, except on the other side of the counter. She looked down at my scarred up arms and then her brown eyes locked with my deep violet ones.

"I remember your arms before they looked like that." she muttered with a sad tone in her voice.

"I do too, Pipes," I exhaled.

"And before you got that tattoo." she smiled, poking the art that stained my arm. I had a small black tattoo that said _Forgiven _in small cursive letters with vines and thorns wrapping around it.

"Me too." I grinned.

Our rather unexpected trip down memory lane was interrupted when there was a knock on the door. Both of our brows furrowed and we shot looks at each other.

"Where you expecting Steve this morning?" Piper asked softly walking over to the door.

"No," I said, shrugging my shoulders.

Piper opened the door to none other than Steve. "Hey, Steve, you're back already? I thought last night would scare you off," Piper chuckled.

"Scare Captain America? Piper how dare you have such a thought," I mocked with a fancy accent.

"Nice to see you two up and working on jokes before noon," Steve smiled as he walked in; Piper shutting the door behind him.

"It's a rare sight. Well come in, make yourself at home." Piper grinned brightly.

"Thanks," he replied.

"Morning," I smiled, feeling my cheeks flush slightly.

"Morning to you too," Steve blushed.

"Well, if you two are going to keep shooting each other soft smiles and blush, I'm going to go shower." Piper said, walking off to the bedroom/bathroom, shutting the door behind her.

"So," I said, breaking the awkward silence.

"How are you feeling?" He asked, walking up to my side. I turned to face him.

"Better, still some abdominal pain but it's not terrible. Sorry for falling asleep on you last night," I chuckled.

"Hey, don't be sorry. Your as light as a feather anyways,"

"To you, Mr. Super-Soldier," I grinned.

Steve smiled and looked down before glancing up once again and locking his eyes with mine. "So, did you need something?" I asked.

"No, I just came by to check on you." He smiled.

"Thanks," I blushed.

"Not a problem. Why wouldn't I come by and check on you after...all of that, last night..." He trailed off.

"I don't know. Solo mission?"

"That's the excuse you're going with?"

"At this moment, yes, yes it is." I chuckled.

"So do you have any plans for today?"

"Not at the moment, why?" I asked.

Suddenly Steve's phone buzzed in his pocket and he successfully answered it. "Hello?" he said with a very serious tone. Must be somebody from SHIELD.

I couldn't hear the other voice over the phone, I just stood silently and watched as Steve listened intently to the speaker on the other end of the line with his eyebrows furrowed in a mix of frustration and concern.

Steve finally hung up after what felt like the longest phone call I'd ever experienced from the side lines.

"Who was it?" I asked.

"It was Fury, apparently there's some solo mission he wants to me to take care of...I'm sorry," Steve said.

"Steve, don't feel bad. You can't help the fact that they world needs saving. Now scoot before Fury gets mad," I chuckled.

"Alright, bye," He said, leaning in and quickly kissing me on the lips, taking me by surprise.

"Be careful!" I called as he walked for the door.

"I will," He flashed his smile back at me before leaving.

I stood there in silence for a moment after he left. "He kissed me..." I muttered, still soaking it all in. "And, it wasn't...awkward..." I breathed, a small smile appearing on my face.

I suddenly heard Piper drop something in the shower and jumped. "Darn it! I hate this shower!"

I just chuckled lightly before walking over to the laptop and opening it. I looked down at the ring on my finger. "Time to put all of those 'research' skills to use..." I muttered, being sarcastic on the word research. I hated research papers all through high school and college. I never plagiarized or anything like that, but I certainly hated being forced to spend hours of my time reading about something I despised and having to type about it.

I pulled up Google and typed in the numbers on the ring, then pressed search. Various results came up. A Chinese restaurant, a bar, coordinates that lead to Spain, even a website link came up in French or something. "Well, forget the internet." I breathed, closing the laptop. I looked at the ring again and thoughts raced through my mind.

First thing, was that this ring was my property and I wasn't letting any SHIELD agent get their paws on it. I was even going to make sure Fury didn't know of it's existence because then it would certainly get taken from me. Although I knew that was going to be nearly impossible, Fury seemed to know everything about everyone, almost like some guy who could just read your mind by holding like two seconds of eye contact with you.

I finally heard Piper turn the water off from the bathroom. I quickly slid the ring off and into my pocket. If Piper noticed that I had a ring on my _left _finger, she would freak out and think Steve gave me a promise ring or something. It was best she just didn't know I now owned a ring period. My thoughts did begin to wander again. It just didn't make any sense, an entire room under a gravestone just full of skeletons and one of them was clutching a ring. There has to be more. SHIELD must have something to do with it though, or else their logo wouldn't have been on the gravestone or the floor of the secret room.

Then my mind continued to wander, and I thought of Steve. I hoped he would be okay, you never know with these missions. Some are less deadly than others of course, but Fury hadn't called us in a while, so it must've been something big. But as my mind continued to wander, I remembered the feeling of his soft lips on mine. A small grin crawled across my lips, I was still trying to filter the fact that a guy loved me, and he wasn't some strange, crazy, psycho-nerd or something like that. He was Captain America, _the _Steve Rogers. I still couldn't believe that he accepted me for who I was the first time we met, and all through my entire life, not one guy had accepted me. But Steve did. And that's why I loved him. I even began to let my mind wander even farther and think about his last name someday becoming mine.

Alexis Dawn Rogers. I liked it. No, I _loved_ it.

"Awesome..." I muttered to myself.

"What's awesome?" Piper laughed walked out of the bedroom catching me in my daydream.

"Oh, nothing, just, a name..."

"Whose?"

"Nobody in particular, I just really like the name Alexandria, y'know?" I smiled; wrinkling my nose a bit. "I've always liked that name better than Alexis, and I could still go by Alex."

"Nice try. I know you wrinkle your nose when you pull a sudden and unexpected white lie. What were you actually thinking?" Piper hummed as she dug around in the fridge for a drink.

"I was thinking about Steve, and then, eventually, I started thinking about my name if I married him." I sighed in defeat.

"Alex Rogers? I like it," Piper smiled.

"Yeah, I do like Alexandria Dawn Rogers a lot better though," I chuckled.

"Hey, just be blessed with what you got. Piper Amelia Williamson? Talk about a mouthful."

"I've always liked your name, Pipes!"

"Thanks, I've always liked yours too," she smiled. I pondered on her smile and the tone in her voice, it almost seemed sad, upset, lost. Like how mine always used to be.

"Piper, what's wrong?" I asked, concerned; getting up and walking over to her in the midst of speaking.

"Nothing, I just, I'm happy for you," she grinned.

"What do you mean? But you say that like you're upset..."

"I'm just still trying to fathom the fact that you're moving on! Als, look at this, not only did you get a guy but you got Captain America! I'm so happy for you! I sound sad because I'm trying to fight back tears of happiness," she laughed, sniffling.

"Aww Pipes don't cry!" I exclaimed wrapping her into a hug.

"I'm just so happy for you," she chuckled.

"Thanks," I grinned.

* * *

Later that day, I still hadn't done much. Piper went out to meet her boyfriend for lunch, and I basically just paced around fooling with the ring. I couldn't focus on anything else. I even tried looking up more information, but nothing helped.

Until one idea finally hit me. One, crazy, insane, psycho idea that I knew nobody would agree with.

I had to go back.

I wasn't going to go at night this time, or alone, just to be safe. It was only around two, and hopefully Steve would be back soon. He never specified if he was returning here when he was done the mission, but I just assumed. He was pretty much always in our apartment now. Sometimes it got on my nerves, if I was in the shower or something, I'd always make sure I got dressed in the bathroom just in case he was in the main room. It was stalk-ish, but he was just a little over-protective. Which, I couldn't blame him, almost every time he wasn't around I got myself into some kind of trouble.

"Ugh, Steve, where are you?" I groaned. I wanted so desperately to go back to the grave and check it out. And like I said before: _Patience is my worst enemy_.

I continued to pace around for almost another hour until finally there was a knock on my door. "Coming!" I called with excitement. I swung the door open with excitement to see Steve standing there. But my smile instantly turned to concern when I noticed his hair was messed up, his face covered with scars and smears of dirt. "Oh my gosh what happened?!" I exclaimed pulling him in the doorway and shutting the door behind him. He wore fresh clean clothes but still looked a mess.

"Well, I obviously had time to change back at HQ, but I didn't want to keep you waiting."

"You didn't have to do that! You could've gone home if you had too! Now I feel bad!" My voice was filled with sympathy almost like a mother's voice would be to a child. It felt strange, but at the same time good.

"It's fine, just a few scratches won't kill me," he chuckled.

"I don't care! The least I could do is clean you up," I laughed softly.

"No, I'll be fine, really, but thank you for the offer," he muttered, embarrassed.

"And you don't have to be embarrassed. Just wait here and I'll be back," I cooed teasingly.

I darted to the bathroom and grabbed a clean washcloth from under the sink and ran it under some warm water, wringing it out afterwards to make it damp; but not dripping wet.

I walked back out to Steve and a small grin snuck across his face when he saw the cloth in my hand. "Seriously?" he chuckled.

"Yes, now sit." I grinned pointing to the stool at our island on the "kitchen" side of our apartment. He walked over and obeyed my words, taking a seat on the chair. I stood in front of him and gently began to smudge the dirt off his cheek bones and forehead. I only began to smile myself when I saw a grin on his face. "Why are you smiling?" I chuckled.

"Nothing, I just, never saw myself with a dame as beautiful and loving as you."

I was taken aback by his comment, and I stopped my actions completely. "Steve, I," I breathed, I didn't know what to say, I wasn't sure what to do, for a moment in time it felt like I was frozen. "Thank you," I finally said, almost in a whisper. Without even thinking I wrapped my arms around him. "And I never saw myself with a man as gorgeous and loving as you," I chuckled, feeling tears of joy creep their way to my eye. "I love you," I whispered.

"I love you too, Als." He breathed. When I pulled back from the hug, he saw the tears lining my eyes. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I just, I feel kind of stupid," I chuckled, wiping one of the tears away. "Oh my gosh why am I crying again? I need to stop doing this," I sniffled.

"Why do you feel stupid?"

"Because, these scars, they just, I basically ruined the first half of my life by beating myself up, and, if I'd known, someone like you would come into my life, I guarantee I probably wouldn't have done this." I said, looking down at my marked up arm. "My point here is, I feel stupid for being so hard on myself. I don't know why I couldn't have just accepted the fact that I would eventually find someone and not ruin my life."

"Alex, don't say that, what's destined to happen in our lives is destined to happen for a reason, whether we see the good in it at the moment or not, but someday we do. I promise." Steve said soothingly.

"Thanks, again," I sniffled for the last time, holding back anymore tears that were held in my eyes.

"Not a problem, thanks for, cleaning me up," Steve chuckled.

"Anytime," I laughed softly. "Oh my gosh, I just realized something,"

"What?"

"This is the first day I haven't left the apartment in months..."

"Is that a good or bad?"

"That's awesome!" I laughed. "Ever since I came home from work that day and those agents were in my apartment I literally have left every single day. And I did even before all this because of my ridiculous job. Oh gosh I hated that job, I'm kind of glad I got the whole part time super-hero thing going, way better than a waitress. That just stunk..." I looked up at Steve to see him smiling. "What?"

"Nothing, It's just fun to watch you rant, you make cute facial expressions."

"Thanks," I blushed. "It's fun to watch you get all serious too," I chuckled.

"When have you seen my serious side?"

"Psh, are you kidding? I've seen old videos of you from the forties...I didn't know that you used to preform too..."

"You saw those? How?" He muttered, red flushing across his cheeks.

"Youtube. Somebody edited the footage to make it look way better, I'm not even sure how the footage was still watchable. But I read online that video cameras started in the thirties so, yeah." I breathed.

There was silence. I looked up at Steve but he quickly looked away.

"What?" I chuckled.

"Um, I just..."

"Embarrassed?"

"Yeah." He exhaled.

"Don't be, my first school play I walked right off the stage into the orchestra pit. Just, plop!"

"Were you okay?"

"Yeah, I landed in a drum but I was fine." I shrugged my shoulders. "I've had worse accidents."

"Like what?" Steve asked, obviously eager to change the topic.

"Well, once when I was doing a musical I tripped and fell into a barrel, and then I rolled across the stage knocking people down. Like human bowling in a way."

"How about that time? No injuries?"

"Not really. I'm just a klutz, I'm used to it." I grinned. "Speaking of, my klutziness and insanity, I need to ask you something."

"I'm all ears," he grinned.

"How would you feel about going back to the grave cave in?"

His grin instantly disappeared. "Alex, are you serious? Why would you want to go back?"

"I just think there's more! There has to be! This ring is getting me no where. I mean from what I've heard my mom was a smart cookie, she wouldn't leave just a ring with some numbers on it."

"Do we even know that she left that for you?"

"What do you mean?" I said with true question. I didn't understand what Steve was trying to get at.

"Well, the SHIELD logo was plastered all over everything, so we can't fully believe that it was only her who knew about this mystery."

"I think that we can, it was her grave after all,"

"Alex, Fury has like eight different gravestones. That man has 'died' and rebirthed so many times I'm pretty sure they just stopped keeping track of the dates and put random numbers on his gravestones."

"What does that have to do with this?"

"I'm saying, that if SHIELD set up all of this, then it might be a trap. But if your mom really did put the ring there, then there might be something else."

"Well there's only one way to find out." I grinned.

* * *

_**And that's a wrap! XD I am again so sorry for that incredibly late update, I've just been so busy I haven't had computer time in eons :( But thanks for the awesome reviews from the last update and please keep those up! Also favorite/follow too! :D Thanks for reading! **_

_**Also I just posted chapter 1 of "Decoding Secrets" (the story I explained at the ending notes of the last chapter) so please check that out and tell me what you think! XD**_

_**I'll update as soon as I can! :D**_


	11. Chapter 11

**Shadowed Past **

**Chapter 11**

_**Hey guys! I'm yet again sorry for the late update I took like a week vacation and got behind on both current fanfics :( I'm trying my best to catch up! Thanks SO much for all the follows/faves/reviews! Please keep those up! XD Also thanks for keeping up with my slow updates and thanks for reading! Enjoy Chapter 11! XD**_

_**Also any italics means that they're Alex's thoughts. :D **_

* * *

"Fine, we can go back, but I'm telling you if you get hurt..."

"I won't get hurt, Steve, I promise."

"Are you sure they'll even let us back there? I mean seriously there's a huge hole in the ground."

"Excuse me, but, they won't see me at all." I grinned, fading into thin air.

"Nice, miss disappear, where are you?" Steve chuckled.

I leaned in close to him and whispered in his ear, "Closer thank you think." I then showed myself, a small laugh escaping my mouth before I leaned back.

"That was rather unexpected," he blushed.

"I'm just teasing, it's cute when you blush."

He blushed harder. I gave him a small grin before I myself felt the heat race to my own cheeks.

"And I think it's cute when you blush, too," He smiled.

"Thanks," I grinned. "So, shall we get going?"

"You meant now?"

"Yeah, right now, like, now," I chuckled.

"This is going to be interesting. And how are you going to get out of the massive hole exactly?

"You left the rope in the grass right?"

"Yeah..."

"Then there's your answer." I grinned as we began to walk towards the door.

* * *

As Steve and I walked down the street, I noticed a couple of black SUV's go racing past us.

"I wonder where they're going..." Steve muttered. I watched one closely and my eyes followed it to the direction of the church.

"Oh no,"

"What?"

"They went to the church!" I called before running forwards, Steve not far behind.

When we made it to the corner across the street from the church, I could see tons of people crowding around the site of the cave in. And not just any people, tons of people dressed in black. SHIELD agents.

"What are they doing here?" Steve whispered in my ear; we were both bending down and only peering our heads slightly around the corner.

"I don't know, but they obviously want something out of that hole."

"How did they find out about it?"

"Fury freaking knows everything he probably sensed it from like thirty miles away." I grunted. I had to ponder in my mind for a moment about a plan. If there was anything else down there, I needed to get to it before they did. I thought up my plan quickly and knew I had to move fast. "I'm going in."

"Excuse me?" Steve huffed.

"I'm going to sneak past them, climb in, make sure they don't find anything, and if I'm not back before they all clear out, then come look for me."

"What? No! No way! I'm not leaving you!"

"Well what are you going to do? Sweet talk them?! If they see you they're going to know something's up!"

"I don't care! It's too dangerous! If they see you then they're going to know you have something to do with it and they will not stop interrogating you until they get what they want." Steve said with a serious tone. He always seemed to have something against SHIELD, and honestly I couldn't blame him.

"What else can I do? Throw rocks and distract them?!"

"Throw rocks? What the heck are you talking about?"

"When Piper and I were little we used to throw rocks to distract somebody to pull a prank or something. They would look in the direction of the noise from the rock and that was our chance to make a move."

"Did it work?"

"Yes but I don't think it's gonna work now! Look at them! I swear a bird just pooped on that guy and he didn't even flinch! Like what is wrong with these people?!"

"Alex, listen, I'm not leaving you."

"Technically you're not leaving me if you wait here for me, leaving is like going back home."

"Als..." he scolded.

"Steve," I whined like a kid. "Seriously, I'll be okay. I'm a big girl," I chuckled.

There was a pause before he finally gave in. "Fine, fine, I'll wait here, and if they clear out and you don't come back, come look for you. Got it. What if they see you?"

"I don't think they will, I have my strategies." I grinned, standing and facing him.

He gripped my arms and pulled me into a quick kiss. "Please, be careful, I love you,"

"I will, and I love you too," I smiled. I turned invisible and began to make my way towards the target. Once I was finally over the fence, I slowly made my way to the massive hole. If any of them noticed the grass moving from my footsteps, I was toast.

Once I finally was a few feet away, I stood behind a gravestone and listened. Fury was even there. That certainly meant it was important.

"Have they found it yet?" he snipped at an agent.

"No sir, they're still searching."

"Well we're not leaving until that ring is in my possession, is that clear?"

"Yes sir," the agent replied.

_So the ring is all there is? Whew, that's a relief. _

"Sir! We found something!"

"What?!" Fury snipped as he stormed to the edge of the gaping hole.

"It's a book!" The agent called.

"A book?"

_A BOOK?! SERIOUSLY?!_

"Well bring it up!" he called.

I watched closely, my eyes locked on this mysterious book.

Once Fury had the book in his hands, he blew the dust off and began to read it. It was an old leather-bound book and I could see that the pages were yellow from aging. _Why does there have to be a book?_

His facial expressions changed various as he continued to flip through the pages one by one, completely lost in the information. He finally closed the book, and slipped it in a pocket inside his coat. _Come on! The inside pocket?! Give me a freaking break!_

"Keep searching for the ring," he demanded.

They began to resume their work and I sat down, my back against the cold headstone. _Great, now what do you do? There's a mysterious book in Fury's jacket, they're still looking for the ring that is currently on your finger, and Steve is probably worried sick since I'm taking so long. _

I pondered back and forth for what seemed like forever. Until finally, I got an idea, but it was ridiculously cheesy, but at the same time, it could possibly work.

I stood slowly, and began to; step by step; creep my way to the edge of the hole. Some more dirt crumbled in and a few of the agents looked right at me. I froze, and waited for the ground to still; then they finally looked away. I exhaled softly, before jumping in. I landed so quietly none of the working agents in the hole heard me, and when I landed I was sure to bend my knees and sink with the force so I wouldn't injure myself.

After I stood; my back straight; I snuck my way across the room so I was standing next to one of the skeletons. First, I started with speaking softly.

"Leave, now," I muttered, but yet loud enough so they could hear the menacing tone in my voice.

"Did you guys hear that?" One agent spoke up as the all looked in my direction.

"Leave, you shouldn't be here..."

"Who's there?"

"Follow my instructions, or I kill you." On the inside, I was jumping with joy at how scared I was making tons of grown men feel.

"You didn't answer my question." he retorted.

"And you didn't obey my orders." I felt a surge of energy shoot through my body, something that I certainly hadn't felt before. Something seemed to take control of me, and although I was acting out all of my eerie lines, the power I had gained over these people seemed to go deeper than I had ever imagined. As I felt something take over, the skeletons around me began to move on their own.

* * *

_**Third Person POV **_

Steve had remained in the same spot and continued to watch in fear since nothing was happening yet. He knew that they hadn't gotten Alex, but she hadn't exactly came back and/or cleared them out yet either.

"Oh come on, Alex, please, I know you can do this," Steve whispered to himself.

Suddenly he noticed some commotion and the agents began to crawl back up to ground level rather quickly. He only got a smirk on his face knowing that Alex had thought of some genius plan to scare them off.

* * *

_**Back to Alex's POV **_

The agents began to flee at the movement of the skeletons, and I kept a sly grin on my lips. Once they were all gone, I shook off the feeling and the skeletons stopped moving. I heard one of the agents tell Fury what they saw, and he looked in the hole to see nothing; of course. Once he began to scold them, I knew I didn't have much time before they'd be back down here. I began to look in some of the holes they'd already dug, behind the skeletons, everything, and I couldn't find anything.

I heard the agents begin to make their way back in and crawled out just in time. I didn't want to try to sneak away until I at least tried to get the book from Fury. _Am I seriously going to try and pick-pocket Fury? _

I snuck up behind him as he talked to another agent, and when the wind began to blow I had my chance. I deeply concentrated, hoping that maybe the book could turn invisible at my touch.

To my luck, it did. I slid the book right out of his pocket and no one noticed. I wrapped it in a tight grasp with my left arm just before I took off; running back to Steve, I didn't care about being stealthy anymore, I got what I needed and now it was time to figure out what this mess was all about.

* * *

I showed myself to Steve once I was at his side again.

"Alex! Are you alright?!" he asked, a tone of concern in his voice.

"I'm fine," I panted softly; a grin eventually creeping across my face.

"What is it?"

"Nothing, I just, I pick-pocketed Fury!"

"I'm sorry?"

"Look! I literally slipped this out of my pocket without being noticed! I turned it invisible by just touching it!" I squealed.

"You're brave, and, why don't we take this back to my place? People are staring..."

"Sounds like a plan," I chuckled.

* * *

Back at Steve's apartment, I sat on the couch and began to read through the book, Steve close to my side.

The book consisted of notes, TONS of notes, all written by my mother. Some were notes from the lab, others were about her abilities as she discovered them.

"These are amazing," I breathed.

"Can you seriously do all this too? I thought you could only put off force fields, not control other forces..."

"I don't know, maybe I should find out," I muttered, standing from the couch and closing the book.

"Are you sure this is safe?" Steve questioned.

"I think so, I hope so..."

"Alex, I've got a bad feeling about this,"

"Well, the book said I could move objects with my mind, psychokinesis," I muttered, ignoring his rant about my safety.

"Als, please, I don't want you to get hurt,"

"I should try something simple, nothing breakable..." I pondered, still continuing to ignore his comments, "Can I try that book?" I asked.

"Did you hear anything I just said?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact I did. But I promise, I'll be fine, so can I please use the book?"

"I give up," he grunted.

"I'm taking that as a yes." I exhaled softly before speaking again, "Here it goes." I closed my eyes and deeply concentrated on this book I was trying to move, and forgot about everything else around me. I pictured the book levitating slowly, rising away from the table, and then I heard Steve mutter something. _It must be working. _I slowly peeked my eyes open and saw the book levitating, fascinated by my ability. I then moved it, left, right, up and down, before letting it drop the table once again with a loud crack.

"Whoa..." I breathed.

"Alex, you just..."

"I saw,"

"How?"

"I don't know..."

"You just defied gravity with your bare hands," Steve said.

"I just defied gravity with my bare hands! Steve, this is amazing!" I squealed, running over to him and wrapping him in a hug. "Maybe there is a good side to being a genetic freak!"

"You haven't discovered that until just now?"

"What do you mean?" I chuckled, pulling away from our warm embrace.

"Als, look where your gift has gotten you. If you weren't special like this, then for all we know who knows where you'd be..."

"If it weren't for Piper I'd be..." I paused, I couldn't go on. I couldn't say the word, let alone think about it.

I just pulled Steve into another hug, a tight hug.

"Alex, it's okay, you're safe now, that's all that matters," He whispered, rubbing my back to calm me down.

"But, I still have nightmares, about, that bridge, the cars rushing beneath my feet, and the thought of jumping and being crushed by one," I breathed, my muscles tensing with fear yet again. Steve only hugged me tighter, calming my nerves yet again.

* * *

_**Third Person POV **_

Piper walked back into the apartment, tired from all the walking she had done with her boyfriend for over half the day, "Pipes' in da house!" she called, imitating a rapper...horribly.

Silence.

"Alex chillax I'm not a robber, I'm home!"

Again, silence.

"Not again," she breathed, beginning to look for a note. Nothing. "Okay, okay, Pipes, calm down, just call Steve's place, and see if she's there..."

Piper walked over to the phone and typed in Steve's number, the phone only rung about three times before it ceased and was replaced with Steve's voice.

"Steve! Please tell me Alex is there!"

"Yes, she's right here with me, Piper, calm yourself. Did you really think I'd let her go grave digging again?" He chuckled.

"I didn't do it on purpose," Alex muttered into the phone.

"No, and, thank you, just, making sure she's safe. Alright, have a good time, don't let things get too serious," she joked.

"Um, I won't, I guess," Steve muttered, getting awkward because of the reference.

"Bye," Piper laughed.

"Bye," he said firmly, his cheeks turning bright red.

* * *

_**Back to Alex's POV **_

I watched as Steve hung up the phone and seemed to tense up at whatever Piper had just said. "What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing, nothing," he said, still tense.

"Did she make a joke?"

"Yes,"

"Steve don't let that embarrass you, she was just kidding," I smiled, hugging him...again. I felt his muscles relax around me as he melted into the hug. Whenever he got embarrassed or worked up, I just have him a hug to make things better; it always seemed to work. He normally did the same for me.

"So, anyways, the book," He said as we slowly pulled away from the hug.

"Right, um, that was, fun," I laughed.

"I guess you could say that. Did your book say anything else?"

"Just more abilities, but, I need to read some more. Do you mind?"

"No, not at all."

Steve and I both sat back down on his couch next to each other yet again and I continued flipping though the book. The room was silent, the only noise was our soft breathing, and the occasional ruffling of paper when I turned the page. When I flipped the page yet again, what felt like the hundredth time, I froze.

The Ring.

It was on the page, and it's purpose was explained.

_Skeleton's Ring_

_ This ring may seem useless, just another decoration, even, but it is the only key to unlock a secret room in SHIELD headquarters. The numbers on the ring represent the combination numbers. The way to open the door to said room is written as follows: _

_There will be one lock with only two dials. You can only enter one number at a time. You must enter them in the order they are written or the lock will seal itself and never be able to be opened ever again. _

"Steve! We've got to go to HQ now!" I squealed.

"Why?"

"The ring unlocks a secret room!"

"But it might not be the same HQ as whenever this journal was written,"

"I'm positive I know where it is. There's one hallway that's always made me wonder why there's no doors in it. And now I think I know why." I said as I slipped on my sweatshirt and boots.

* * *

In no time we were walking through the halls of SHIELD HQ. Steve had the book hidden in his jacket, and I walked in front of him, leading the way to this mysterious hallway I had once stumbled upon.

"So, this is it," Steve muttered.

"Yes, now please keep watch while I try and find where the door's at. I know it's behind these walls but I don't know exactly where..." I began knocking on the wall, listening for the hollow echo, when there was no echo, I would know that the door was there.

After what felt like forever, I was tired of knocking. I backed up, and swiped a massive force field through the space, causing the first layer of drywall to instantly crumble as soon as it made contact with my energy.

It didn't take me long to see the door, covered in dust. "There you are,"

"Isn't this a little bit of a bad idea?"

"How is it bad?" I laughed, walking over to the door looking for the combination lock.

"You just destroyed a wall!"

"I'll fix it." I huffed, beginning to enter the code into the combination lock as the book had instructed.

I suddenly heard a click from inside the door, and I slowly turned the knob, pushing it open.

* * *

"Steve, come on," I whispered, motioning him over.

Once we were both inside, my eyes scanned around the room, it was an old office, but not just _any_ old office.

The tag on the desk read a name that made my bones go cold: _Agent L. Cooper_

"This was your mom's?"

"Seems like it,"

"I wonder why this place was so crucial to keep hidden," Steve trailed off, looking around.

"Me too," I breathed, running my fingers over the smooth yet dusty wood of the desk. I walked around to the back of the desk and began to shuffle through the papers left on it. They were mostly old newspapers, that had just seemed to be abandoned in the middle of a work hour. They all involved SHIELD, or the mysterious robot man that I had attacked before; until one article caught my eye.

_TWO OF THE WORLDS GREATEST SCIENTESTS PART WAYS: POTENTIAL THREAT?_

_On Saturday, scientist Lucy Cooper and Dexter Lewis split their ways as not only friends but two of the greatest 'lab partners' of the century. The duo discovered more about genetics and human structure in a matter of years than anyone has ever discovered in decades. But citizens fear the sudden split, with their potential knowledge arguing could turn into a global death match right before the our eyes. _

My eyes skimmed lower to see the picture of my mom and this man named Dexter, the beating ceasing in my heart when I saw who he was. Dexter was the man who kidnapped me, the one who I murdered in the end.

* * *

_**Cliffhanger! Dun dun dunnn XD I think this chapter was a little shorter, sorry about that. I just wanted to get one out as soon as I could :) Anyways, thanks for reading/following/favorite-ing/reviewing and please keep all of that up! I'll update as soon as I can! ;) **_


	12. Chapter 12

**Shadowed Past **

**Chapter 12**

_**Hey everybody! Sorry this is so late, thanks for waiting and being patient! Also thanks for all the follows/faves/reviews! Enjoy! XD**_

* * *

"Steve," I whispered in pure shock.

"What is it?"

I couldn't speak, I was too stunned by what my eyes focused on.

"Alex," he said sternly, walking up to my side.

"They were, friends?"

"Who?"

"My mom, and that freakish robot-guy-thing I killed!"

"Dexter Lewis, that name seems familiar, I think it was in your book," Steve pondered.

"Where?"

"Towards the beginning, I could've swore I saw the name Dexter in there somewhere."

"Would you mind looking for it while I keep checking out these news clips?" I asked.

"Sounds like a plan."

Sure enough, Steve began skimming through the journal and I continued to read the news articles. Some older ones were about my mom's accomplishments with this Dexter guy. I kept flipping and flipping until I found an article that might give me some answers.

_A NEW LEVEL IN SCIENCE: DNA REPLICATION SUCESS_

_Famous scientists Lucy Cooper and Dexter Lewis have amazed the public yet again with their latest discovery; the ability to replicate an organisms DNA into a robot body, giving said robot life-like features just as real human. "I didn't even know the difference," states citizen Anna Walters, "It just looked like any other everyday person." _

_The scientists did not allow any in-depth details on what they plan to use the invention for; of course causing a major-league uproar growing to global sizes. _

"Hmmm," I pondered, flipping through more articles. I would need one more puzzle piece to make sure that what I was thinking was a logical answer.

And sure enough:

_SUPERIOR KNOWLEGDE PUT INTO ROBOT: DEXTER LEWIS RISES AGAIN_

_Just yesterday it was announced that scientist Dexter Lewis replicated all of his DNA and knowledge into one of the robots that him and scientist Lucy Cooper made years ago. The robot resembles Lewis in as his current exact twin in his middle age form, but the robot will not age with the real scientist. _

"Yes! I knew it!" I called out loud by mistake.

"What is it?" Steve asked, looking over my shoulder.

"Dexter made a replica of himself into one of the robots him and my mom made when they were all buddy-buddy and stuff, and that's what I killed! His robot replica! And he must've programmed it to kill my mother...but, why? And, to top it off...it hunted me down anyways..."

"I still don't get it, how did he even know about you? If he was on his death bed than he probably didn't hear about anything, and nobody knew about you besides Piper's parents anyways,"

"True, but, I just don't know...did you find anything about Dexter in your book?"

"Nope, but I could've swore I saw his name in here," Steve pondered.

"Don't worry about it. I think we need to hurry up before Fury finds out we're in here."

"Yeah, what else do you need to look for?"

"I don't know, I feel like there's something else in here...I mean why do to all that trouble to make sure nobody find outs about it?"

"Beats me," Steve shrugged.

"I'm stumped, again."

"Well you did find out a lot about this creepy guy Dexter, so it's not a total waste."

"You're right," I smiled. "Just wanna leave for today?"

"Sounds like a plan to me," he smiled.

Steve and I crept out and made sure the door was locked and that the ring was on my finger. "I feel stupid...why did I make such a mess?"

"You were just frustrated, it wasn't stupid, Als."

"Thanks, but, I wish I could fix it, I mean now somebody's gonna find the door."

"Do you think you could put the walls back together?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, you mentioned that you moved the skeletons with your mind, so I'm sure you could do the same thing but just repair the wall, like think it up in your head." Steve added.

"When did you get all super-genius?" I chuckled, hitting his arm playfully. He just blushed softly and shrugged it off, not really responding. "Okay, I guess I'll try. Cover me?"

I stood in the middle of the hallway, closing my eyes and focusing hard on the walls, imagining them repaired and strong, hiding the door's location yet again. I heard soft crackling noises and rumbling, but I tried to ignore them, I had to focus.

It was only a matter of seconds before the soft background noises stopped, and my eyes shot open; the walls were appearing brand new, as if nothing ever happened to them in the first place. I looked around before turning to Steve.

"Why didn't I find that book years ago?" I chuckled, "This is awesome!"

* * *

Steve and I left HQ and he walked me back home. "So, are you going to tell Piper yet?" Steve asked as we walked down the street through the crowds of people.

"I don't know, I mean I want to, and I feel bad, but, she's got the mouth the size of a black hole..."

"But she's got a serious side too, I think she'll keep it a secret. If anything just tell her about the book and all the new abilities in it, save all the Dexter stuff for later since we don't even know everything about that yet."

"I guess I'll do that, I mean that's better than telling her nothing." I said as we approached my apartment building.

Once we reached the lobby doors, I went ahead and gave Steve a hug goodbye. He insisted on walking me up, but I told him that he needed go home, get some rest. He was always so worried about me, and it made me feel guilty.

* * *

I opened the door to Piper and I's apartment to find her half asleep on the couch, watching a movie.

"Hey, Als," she yawned.

"Hi, how are you almost asleep? It's not even that late,"

"It's like, sundown, I'm tired."

"Well, I'm just waking up." I chuckled, shrugging my jacket off.

"That's because you stay up until like three in the morning and sleep till two in the afternoon, I go to sleep like a normal person at like ten and wake up at seven or eight."

"Well I'm sorry I'm a rebellious child," I said, sarcasm thick in my voice.

"You're just hilarious," Piper sighed also with sarcasm. She stood from the couch and stretched, walking over to greet me at the counter. "You're hiding something."

"I'm sorry?"

"You crinkle your nose when you lie, and you just crinkled your nose about five times."

"I was going to tell you, now, actually, that's why I'm nervous,"

"Finally, I was waiting for you to come clean." Piper huffed.

"You knew?"

"No, not the subject, but I knew something was up because you've been disappearing with Steve for long amounts of time, and, I don't know, I just, knew."

I exhaled before pulling the book out of my pocket and slamming it on the counter. "Piper, I can do more things than we thought."

"Alex, what do you mean?"

"This book, I stole it from Fury. Some SHIELD agents found it in my mom's grave, and, it's got all these, abilities in it, and, I can do, most of them. I've tried. And, when I use them, I get this, feeling, like, the power, it's..."

"Controlling you?"

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"I know a lot more than you think for as a dumb as I appear. Power is one of the most dangerous things to wield, it changes people, and very easily too."

"But, I don't want power, I don't want to be a control freak..."

"That doesn't matter. Power like this will do what it wants, all's it needs is a host."

* * *

_**Third Person POV: Currently At SHIELD HQ**_

Fury walked down the hallway that had always even made him think. He knew that Alex and Steve had been here, he saw them on the security cameras, but there wasn't a particular one in this hallway, so he didn't see exactly what they did, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to know. He was beginning to see Alex as a distraction to Steve, but at the same time a good friend to get him back on track. But he knew enough about Alex to know that she needed Steve just as much as Steve needed her.

He stopped in the hall, and looked around. Something felt different. Fury knew, deep down, that there was something hiding there. And he knew exactly who slipped that book from his pocket. He knew that Alex wielded powers that even she hadn't discovered yet, not from her precious little book at least. But he couldn't tell her, it would only make things worse. The book was only the beginning of what Alex was about to unleash.

* * *

_**Back to Alex's POV**_

Alex had told Piper everything that she knew from the book, and that the ring was the combination to the secret room, AND the stuff about Dexter. Alex felt bad for letting it slip out, but she's already kept so much from Piper, she felt that the guilt of not telling Piper would drive her insane.

"So, you basically put off the purple force fields to protect yourself, but you can control the elements with your forces as well?"

"Yep, in a nutshell."

"So you can like, start a fire then?"

"Piper, I don't know, I haven't tried fire yet, I didn't want to hurt anybody."

"Well, let's try now."

"Pipes, no, bad idea."

Suddenly my phone began to ring from my jacket, and I ran over to answer it. "Hello?"

"Yeah, Alex, quick question, did you ever get my letter?" It was Tony. That was surprising, she hadn't heard from any of the avengers since months ago when they defeated the wack-o genetic people.

"Um, no, why do you ask?"

"Well, I was wondering why you didn't respond, but, I'm having a party at Stark tower to I guess, how do I put it? Re-assemble everybody. Like a gigantic family reunion but not with old people playing chess, well, except for Steve but you get my point."

I chuckled before speaking, "When is it?"

"This Friday, doors open at nine. So can you come? Your friend can come too just as long as she promises not to attack anyone in a fangirl kind of way or faint a million times."

"Um, sure, we'll be there! Sounds fun," I laughed.

"Alright, great, see you there."

I hung up my phone and slipped it in my pocket. I looked up to see Piper's eyes filled with eagerness.

"I'm going to THE Stark Tower? To meet ALL of the avengers?!"

"Yes, yes you are."

Piper almost couldn't contain herself.

"So, I'm assuming you heard everything over the phone?" I smiled.

"Duh, I'm like the best ease dropper ever," Piper scoffed.

"Yeah, you keep on dreamin'," I chuckled, walking towards the bedroom. I was trying to get out the room before...

"Wait! We need to get you a dress!" Piper shouted.

That.

"Pipes, I'll be fine, I've got that really nice one, please I'll be okay. Why can't I just wear jeans? It's Tony for crying out loud do you think he's going to care?"

"But you need to impress Steve..." she trailed off with a smirk on her face.

"Reality check, no I don't. You are not putting me in some short skimpy dress for Steve, Piper. I'm sorry, but that's just too far. Besides, Steve isn't that low anyways, he likes me for who I am and that's final."

"Whatever you say, hot stuff."

"Sometimes I really want to slap you," I chuckled.

"Jerk," she huffed.

"Idiot," I muttered under my breath as I continued my walk into the bedroom.

* * *

Later that night, I was up late; as always; except this time I was trying out some new abilities out of the journal. The one I was currently trying involved water. According to the book, I could capture water in my normal force fields, and I could just bend water overall. I was trying the capturing the water in the force field first. Every time I lost one little bit of focus, the force field popped and the water rained back into my glass.

"Darn..." I grunted after my billionth fail. I began flipping through the book, ready to try something else. My determination was interrupted by a yawn creeping out of my mouth, and a glance at the clock. 2:31am. Yeah, that might be a good time to go to bed.

I laid awake on the couch for what felt like forever, just thinking. Great, now I had to find something to wear for this party. Piper wouldn't let me leave unless it was a dress. Maybe I could go find a punk looking dress or something, or wear tights and boots with it...yeah, that sounded more up my alley.

My thoughts kept me away for a while, until I finally drifted off into a deep sleep.

* * *

_**Third Person POV**_

Piper awoke to Alex shrieking early in the morning, darkness still outside, and she went running out of the bedroom to see Alex gripping onto the couch for dear life; her eyes still shut. A nightmare. "Alex!" she called, darting over to her. Piper began shaking Alex roughly, repeating her name, trying her best to wake her up. But whatever nightmare Alex was having had pulled her deep into her thoughts, Piper couldn't seem to get Alex to come to reality. "Alex! Wake up!" She yelled, slapping her once across the face.

Alex' eyes finally shot open; she sat up slowly, breathing heavy.

* * *

_**Alex's POV**_

"Are you alright?!" Piper snapped, but in a worried tone.

"I think so, I don't know what happened..." I swallowed, still panting.

"What was the nightmare about?"

"I was trapped, inside, myself..."

"I'm sorry?"

"The power, it took over and I couldn't do anything, I was like, possessed or something. I was inside still conscious, but, I couldn't control anything I was doing, or saying..."

"What did you do? Or say?"

I felt tears swell in my eyes, "I was killing people, Piper, innocent people, and I don't know why,"

"Als," Piper whispered, sitting on the couch next to me. "It's alright, it was just a dream, calm down,"

I cried quietly, I couldn't even fathom the fact that I was watching in horror from a murder's point of view.

"Why on earth would I dream something like that?" I sniffled.

"Maybe it was from reading that book for so long...how late were you up?"

"Two thirty...what time is it now?"

"Only five," Piper said. "Do you want to try and get back to sleep?"

"Yeah, I guess I will," I exhaled, wiping one last tear away.

"Alright, are you sure you'll be okay?"

"I think so, thanks, Pipes,"

"No problem." Piper grinned before hugging me and going back to bed.

The truth was, I wasn't going to be able to sleep for a while, probably. That nightmare had my nerves spiked to the max, and there was no way I could just relax and fall back asleep in a matter of minutes. I'd probably be up till sunrise in a few hours, then I'd eventually crash and sleep till the afternoon if Piper didn't wake me up. More thoughts flooded my mind as I tried to get the nightmare out of sight, for now.

* * *

_**And that's a wrap! I think this one was kind of shorter but I'd rather get one up than make you all wait even longer. **_

_**But anyways, thanks for all the follows/faves/reviews and please keep those up! I'll update this as soon as I can and if you have any questions leave them in the reviews! XD Thanks for reading! **_


	13. Chapter 13

**Shadowed Past **

**Chapter 13**

_**Hey peeps! XD Lol :p So, sadly, school starts up in a few days for me :( And that means that my updates my be a little bit more far apart because I have to attend to my school work first and might not get as much typing in although my update speed sucked this summer anyways. So just apologies in advance for probably slower updates because of stupid educational junk :/ **_

_**And, (I'm pretty sure you're all going to hate me after your read this) I don't think I'll be able to stretch this out into a sequel :( I mean, I really thought I had enough ideas to pull it off, but after I thought about it for a while, I don't have enough to stretch out a whole other story :'( And don't get me wrong I'm upset about it and I feel bad that I can't renew the story. I also think I just need a break from writing and focus and school for a bit (total nerd I know) but I honestly don't know what the year's going to be like. So again, sorry for being a total idjit (Basically an idiot/annoying person; Supernatural fans you know what I mean XD) and doing this to you guys. **_

_**But the few plot points I did have for a sequel I'm going to fix up and just add to the rest of Shadowed Past; and I promise I'll give you guys a good non-cliffhanger ending :) So this means this story will be stretched out by a couple more chapters ;)**_

_**So, again, really sorry, hate me or love me, whichever. **_

_**I hope you enjoy this chapter and please keep up the follows/favorites/reviews! ;)**_

* * *

_**Third Person POV**_

Steve made his way over to Alex and Piper's apartment around nine in the morning. He hadn't heard from Alex about how the talk with Piper went and was hoping that it went well.

When Steve arrived at their apartment, he only knocked once before Piper swing the door open with a finger to her lips. "Alex is still sleeping, sorry not to be rude, but, she had a rough night," Piper whispered.

"What happened?"

"Long story, come in."

Steve's eyes quickly noticed Alex asleep on the couch. "Did she have a nightmare or something?"

"Yeah, how'd you know?'

"Well, it's the first logical answer for Alex having a rough night if she didn't go kill something."

"This is true." Piper sighed.

"So, did she say what it was about?' Steve asked.

"Sort of, but, not complete detail. She was screaming clinging to the couch for dear life, and that's when I ran out to check on her, but, she said that she was watching herself kill innocent people, like a beast or something. And, of course I didn't go back to sleep after that, so I did a little web surfing on possession, what happens, and, a little matched, but, not a lot. It said that when someone is possessed by a demon or junk like that, they completely black out, can't remember anything; and the demon does all the talking until it's exorcised."

"Demons? What? I don't understand what you're getting at..."

"I watch too much TV, anyways, my point here is I thought Alex's nightmare was that she was possessed, not able to control her body, but, she her conscious was still watching through part of it and the demon was doing the killing, not Alex."

"You lost me."

"Never mind, it's really complicated, but, I don't think her nightmare was just a dream, I think it was a pre-dejavu kind of thing, like, whatever she saw is going to happen. Almost like a warning," Piper continued rambling.

"She saw the future? Piper you do watch way too much television..."

"Steve, listen to me, I know it sounds nuts, but I don't think demons are the problem here, I think Alex's new and exposed powers are going to posses her, almost like a demon, but, not."

"But, two people can't be inside one head at once! Piper that's impossible!"

"I give up, Steve." Piper scoffed walking to the fridge.

"What did I do?" Steve muttered, still confused.

* * *

_**Back to Alex's POV**_

My eyes slowly peeled open to the sun pouring in through the windows. My back was a little sore from sleeping on the couch, and then I suddenly remembered why I felt so restless. The nightmare. Little pieces of it flashed through my mind, and I sat up, gasping.

"Alex," Steve said, darting over towards me. "You okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I just..."

"Nightmare?"

"Yeah..." I muttered, glaring at Piper over his shoulder as he sat down next to me. Piper mouthed a sorry before taking a sip of her drink.

"Are you sure you're going to be okay?"

"I'll be fine, I think I've got more to worry about Tony's party than I do a silly nightmare," I chuckled.

"He called you too?"

"Last night actually, I just said I'd come, I mean what the heck, why not? How many people can say they've got the Avengers in their contact list?"

"The other Avengers," Piper said smartly.

"Genius," I sighed, clapping slowly. She played along and bowed.

Steve smiled before talking again, "So how much sleep did you get?"

"Like, four hours," I groaned. "But I don't want to try and sleep more, because what if I have it again? Gosh I sound like I'm four,"

"You sound like your drunk if you're anything," Piper snorted. Steve and Alex both looked up at her. "What? We all know it's true."

"Anyways, did you discover anything new about...your, um," Steve muttered awkwardly.

"It's okay, I told her," I grinned. "And, no, not really. I was trying some new ones last night with water, but, other than that, no."

"How about Dexter? Anything new on him yet?"

"Nope, I didn't see his name in the book either."

"Well, it sounds to me like this Dexter guy and your mom could've been more than friends," Piper said walking up to us.

"Pipes, I don't know..."

"I'm just saying, I mean a guy and girl all bestie like that? At least one of them had to have a small crush on the other, but chances are they both loved each other."

"But, why would he program the robot to kill her? And me?"

"Easy, she got mad at him for making the robot or some other science junk, and she 'dumped' him; per say; and then to get his revenge he wanted to kill her because the pain was too much."

"Piper, that's deep, but, it fits the pattern..." I breathed, astonished by her smarts.

"Typical romance, easy. And they say that Netflix isn't educational," She muttered before taking another sip of her drink.

"But, how are we ever going to find out the truth?" Steve spoke up.

"I don't think anything can officially prove facts at this point unless it's from the book, or some other typed and reliable source from years ago, like newspapers and stuff." I said.

"Couldn't you just ask for a mystical sign of wisdom or something?" Piper smirked.

"No, Pipes, and that's too far, proves that you watch too much TV."

"Oh come on! Just because I have an obsession with a show doesn't mean it's getting to me!"

"You sleep with a knife under your pillow!"

"So?! That could be used on a robber!"

"Then explain the all the freaking rock salt under the bed! Like seriously, why salt?!"

"Salt is pure therefore it wards off impure things!"

"You're nuts!" I half laughed.

"Thanks for reminding me!" Piper snapped.

It got silent before Piper and I looked at each other and started snickering. "We can't fight without laughing..."

"You can say that again," she chuckled.

"But, seriously, the blade is a but much..."

"Can we just drop this?" Piper laughed. "Steve looks like he's gonna have nightmares!"

"What? No, I just...I'm really confused..." He muttered.

"Don't worry about it, I am too." I smiled at the blush I noticed on his cheeks.

"Wait! I have one more idea!" Piper blurted out.

"No! We are not raising or communicating with the dead!" I snapped.

"Darn..." she huffed in defeat.

"Anyways, what are today's plans?"

"Do you want to go back to the secret room? Try and figure out more about Dexter?" Steve asked.

"I guess, Piper's theory makes sense, but, I feel like there's more to this mess, something just doesn't feel right."

"Can I come?"

"Sure, just, promise not to break anything or be loud or give us away." I spoke up.

"Yesss," Piper whispered.

"Alright, I'll get changed and we can head out," I chuckled, standing and walking to the bedroom.

There was a moment of silence between Steve and Piper until Piper broke it; of course. "Do you think Fury and the agents will find it suspicious that we're just strolling in like that?"

"I thought about that," Steve responded.

"Well I guess all's we can do it try, right?"

"Yeah, I guess."

* * *

Steve, Piper and I walked into HQ without being stopped or interrogated. Hardly anyone even glanced at us. We just continued our walk in silence back to the hallway. "Do you think they're staring?" Piper whispered in my ear.

"No, actually, they're acting a bit too calm." I muttered back.

We continued walking until we finally reached the hallway, no agents following us by luck.

"The door was here, right?" I said, running my hand over the wall where I recalled the door to be yesterday.

"Um, yeah, I think so," Steve responded.

"Good. Piper, watch for security, if you hear anybody coming, just, whisper, don't yell."

"Okay, got it."

I began to work my powers to remove only the part of the wall to reveal the door; and not destroy everything like I did before. It felt like my abilities worked much quicker and easier this time, almost as if they even worked on their own.

Before I knew it the door was revealed and I began entering the combination.

* * *

"Whoa...so this was your mom's old study?" Piper breathed, taking everything in.

"Yeah, apparently," I replied.

"So, what are we looking for again?"

"Anything involving Dexter and my mom or the powers, but, I think we've basically got the whole Dexter thing assorted besides the fact as to why my mother dated him in the first place, I mean come on creepy scientist dude is more attractive than some other person my mom could've found?"

Steve chuckled at my comment, causing me to look up.

"What?" I smirked.

"Nothing, just you and your words,"

"Hey, I can't shut up, so let's get this over with before I want to make you guys blow your brains out or something." I chuckled.

Steve began shuffling through some more news files on the desk while Piper and I checked the books on the shelves.

"Dude! She's got books with weird symbols on them!" Piper called out, brushing the dust off an old book she found. Steve and I walked over to check it out.

"Piper, that's basic algebra." I smirked.

"Is not! That's alien business right there!"

"Fine, you have fun on your alien hunt, and I'll be across the room ignoring your presence."

"Oh shut up," she scoffed, hitting me playfully on the arm before putting the book back.

"Sometimes I still wonder how I made it through college..." Piper muttered to herself.

"Me too," I practically whispered.

"I heard that!"

"Geesh, eagle ears, calm down. Did you see anything yet, Steve?"

"No, you?"

"Nope, just books and dust, dust and books. I'll be lucky if I find a paper clip." I sighed.

"I mean, maybe there isn't anything else." Piper said, turning back to Steve and I. "The only thing left to do is just piece together the rest about your powers really, there's nothing else about Dexter, and unless there's a second creepy leather bound journal, then, I think we're broke on clues."

"I agree with you, Pipes, but, I just feel like there's something else here...like, something my mom wanted me to know, or have..."

"Well, you got the ring and journal," Steve added.

"This is true," I sighed. " I don't know. Maybe I'm just going nuts. This is crazy enough right?"

"Should we get out of here? I'm getting a bad feeling about this, like, somebody's coming. We need to go, now." Piper said sternly.

She rushed towards the door and Steve and I followed. "How are you so sure?" I asked, concerned.

"I just am, now hurry up lock the door and cover it back up with the wall panel."

I did quickly as she had instructed and we were off, slipping out the back way to be less noticeable.

* * *

"So, that was one mission failed." I sighed as we walked down the busy streets. My hands were shoved into my pockets and I kept my head low. I hated looking up at strangers, they always looked like they wanted to hurt me.

"But, look how far we've gotten. And that nightmare of yours might just mean something." Piper replied.

"I hope so. But what if it really does mean I'm going to lose control over this power...I don't want to hurt anybody..."

"Don't worry, Als. I'm not going to let anything happen to you," Steve said reassuringly.

"Thanks," I grinned. "Piper, please control yourself this time."

"I'm sorry, you know me and my romance," she smiled.

"Anyways, what are we doing now?" I asked.

"Well, I think I'll leave you two, to it," Piper winked.

"Piper," I hissed, glaring at her.

"Hey, I'm just saying. If you need me, I'll be at home watching my show," she smiled before walking off.

"You don't need to watch more of that! You're already paranoid!" I called.

"What?! I can't hear you!" she called back with sarcasm.

I just scoffed and turned back to Steve. "So, what do you want to do now?" I chuckled.

"Well, it's only 11 am. Are you hungry yet?"

"I'm getting hungry, how about you?" I responded as we starting walking.

"Sure, we can stop and get something." Steve chuckled. "What do you want?"

"I don't care, I just need food before I start going cannibal and gnawing on my hand."

"Wait, are you serious?"

"No, I'm just kidding," I chuckled as we continued walking.

* * *

Later that afternoon, after lunch and just some walking and talking, Steve and I were on our way back to Piper and I's apartment when my phone started ringing.

"Who is it?" Steve asked.

"It's Tony...again..." I said, puzzled. I quickly answered the phone before he hung up, "Hey, Tony, what's up?"

"Yeah, hey, have you seen Steve lately?"

"Um, he's with me, why?"

"Well, I need you both to swing by Stark Tower if you don't mind, I think you two could be the first to hear some good news since you're the only two still in town."

"Like, now?"

"Yeah, now."

"But, why can't you just tell me over the phone?"

"This is the kind of news where it's best told and/or seen in person. So can you swing by?"

"Uh, sure, we'll be right over," I said, hanging up. "That was weird, Tony wants us to swing by Stark Tower, like, now."

"Why?"

"He said he had some news for us...and he asked where you were, which is surprising, he must've called you though, where's your phone?"

"In my pocket..." Steve muttered, taking it out. The screen lit up to _3 missed calls from Tony Stark. _

"See! I knew it! But, why didn't you answer it?"

"It never rang, but that explains why my pants kept vibrating at the restaurant..." Steve said seriously.

I smirked before dying of laughter, making him even more confused. "What's so funny?" He asked.

"Vibrating pants!" I was able to say through the laughing. "I'm sorry that's just a really funny way to word it!"

He just rolled his eyes before we started walking again, and I tried calming myself down.

* * *

When Steve and I got to Stark Tower, JARVIS let us in and we met up with Pepper first. Tony came down a few minutes later.

"So, what's this news, Tony?" I chuckled.

"Well, after some serious deciding, I've decided to upgrade Stark Tower to Avengers Tower, which means, you all are going to have your own massive apartments here, and, it's just a better way to keep the group, connected, I guess."

"No way! Seriously!? That's awesome!" I squealed.

"Is this for real?" Steve huffed. Tony and Steve still weren't necessarily buddy-buddy.

"Yes, Capsicle, it is." Tony replied.

"Fury agreed to this?" I asked.

"Yeah, after some serious persuading that it was safer for us all to stay in one highly secured tower near one of the biggest HQ centers, he said that it was fine. I think I drove him insane but, eh, whatever it takes."

"Wait, can Piper move in with me too?"

"I think she'll be okay, she's obviously not a threat..."

"Thank you so much! She is going to go crazy when I tell her this."

"Wait, wait, don't let her find out until Friday night at the party though, same with everyone else."

"Why?"

"I don't know, suprises are more fun when the whole group is together, right?"

"I guess, but, why did you tell us so soon?"

"Well, you two are the only two not eighty million miles away, and I figured you could move in early if you wanted because your floors are ready."

"Oh my gosh seriously?! Can I go see mine?!"

"Sure, go nuts, you're on floor three. Steve, floor four." Tony said.

I went running for the elevator. "Come on Steve! Let's go!" I sounded like a little kid, I was so excited. I mean, I could only imagine what Tony had made with his genius and money.

* * *

_**So, I think I'll leave off there for now :) Anyways, please review/follow/favorite and try not to hate me! Again I am really sorry for the whole buzz kill about the sequel and everything. But thanks for reading and keeping up with my story! I'll update as soon as I can with school! **_


	14. Chapter 14

**Shadowed Past **

**Chapter 14**

_**Hey guys! XD So sorry this is really late, school sucks. Also sorry it's kinda short, but I thought you guys would prefer a shorter chapter than having to wait even longer for a few more paragraphs. Thanks for waiting and reading my story, and I'll try to update soon! :D Enjoy! ;p **_

* * *

When the elevator opened again on my floor, I was stunned by what I saw. There was a huge room with bean bags, those really cool ball chairs than hang from the ceiling, two gigantic bunk bed sets (the actual bed on the top bunk and a couch underneath), and a huge kitchen. It was basically a massive apartment room but with tons of awesome décor that every teenage minded person in their twenties could think of. My side of the room was more punk rock looking, Piper's side more obvious with lots of pink and glitter.

"This, is, awesome!" I practically screamed running around to check everything out. Steve just had a huge smile on his face as he walked around looking at things while I was basically tackling everything.

"Hey, there's some more doors," Steve finally spoke up over my outburst.

"Oh! I need to check that one out!" I exclaimed pointing to one of the few doors on the side of the room. I swung it open and my jaw dropped. "A pool?! You see that too right?! There's a pool in there!"

"Yeah, I see it," Steve chuckled.

"This is crazy!" I screamed, running inside the room with the massive in-ground and indoor swimming pool.

"Look at this, there's some switches over here,"

"Yeah, I wonder what that one does..." I said, flipping it. Small vertical blinds on the windows flipped revealing their opposing side, which was pure black. After they all had turned, making the room pitch black, the pool lit up a bright purple, which faded into different colors slowly. I looked up to the ceiling to see an almost realistic constellation display of beautiful stars. "Whoa..."

"This is..."

"Awesome..." I breathed, finishing Steve's sentence for him.

"There's another switch next to it," Steve said, flipping it. Tons of bubbles started foaming in the pool, almost like a hot tub.

"So, I see you're enjoying your floor so far," Tony said from behind us.

"Tony! This is amazing! Thank you so much!" I cheered running over to him and hugging him.

"Hey, no problem kiddo, I'm glad you like it. Did you see your music room yet?"

I pulled back quickly, "My what?"

* * *

"Here it is, your very own music room," Tony said, pushing the two doors aside with his hands.

I was speechless yet again. The room had everything to occupy me for days. There was multiple electric guitars, a drum kit, recording booth, it was literally one of the music rooms used in massive record companies for famous musicians.

"Tony, you've outdone yourself, this is just, a dream come true." I said, speechless.

"It's seriously not a problem," He laughed.

"So, Piper and I can move in before the party on Friday?"

"Sure, the floor's ready so move in whenever you like,"

"Awesome! Oh my gosh she's going to be so happy when I tell her this, she probably won't believe me," I trailed off. "Anyways, Steve, you want to go check out your floor?"

"Okay, you can stay here if you want, don't feel obligated to come with me," Steve replied.

"I'll come! I want to see it," I smiled.

* * *

We went down to Steve's floor and scoped it out, he had a personal gym and really neat room, the décor was themed from back in Steve's time but it had tons of new technology which made me laugh; he was going to get so confused.

After Steve and I left Stark tower, Steve walked me back to my apartment as always, and now it was time to tell Piper that we were going to be moving out of the rundown apartment building.

"Hey, Pipes," I said as I closed the apartment door behind me, shrugging off my jacket to hang it up.

"No! No! Don't die! You can't die! Don't do it! You're so stupid!" she yelled.

I quickly got confused, but when I noticed her focus was dead on the TV screen I knew it was about her show. "Piper!" I shouted.

She jumped, turning to look at me. "Don't scare me like that? When did you get home?"

"Just now, actually, and-" I was interrupted by more yelling as she returned her attention to the TV.

"Piper! Shh! We can't afford more noise complaint bills!"

She paused the TV, and walked over to me. "Actually, we can,"

"What do you mean?"

"You just got another paycheck in the mail from SHIELD," she said, handing me an envelope from the counter.

"How much?"

"Guess."

"A grand?"

"Nope."

"Three grand?"

"Try ten."

"Ten thousand dollars?! Piper! That's so much money! Why all of this money now?"

"I don't know, and, I think it's best we just accept it don't question it!" she shouted, excitement ringing through her voice.

"And, I have a little more news..."

"What?" she said, getting excited.

"I was over at Stark tower, and, Tony, he, well, he kind of made it into _Avengers _tower."

"Okay, and this applies to us how?"

"Well, since they're considering me an avenger now...I sort of got my own floor..."

"I'm lost..."

"Piper! You and I got our own floor in avengers tower for crying out loud!"

"Floor?"

"Massive apartment in a nutshell! With our own pool and music room!"

"Oh my gosh that's amazing!" she screamed.

"I know!"

We squealed and jumped around, hugging a few times before we calmed ourselves down.

"When do we move in?" Piper asked.

"He said we can move in whenever we want, even before the party." I replied.

"That's so cool! So should we move in before Friday?"

"I guess, I think the sooner we're out of here the better."

"Agreed. Then we can do whatever we want and make as much noise as we want," Piper hummed.

"Totally, and I'm sure the neighbors will miss us so much," I sighed sarcastically.

"Yeah, they'll miss us so, _so_, much." She chuckled, her voice thick with sarcasm as well.

* * *

Later that night, Piper and I began packing up some of our decorations around the apartment, we planned to move out by tomorrow afternoon and/or the morning after.

"Hey, what do you want to do with your posters in the bedroom?" Piper asked.

"Um, I guess we'll just roll them up, put them in one of the boxes or something."

"Kk, just checking, I know they're precious to you," she smirked.

"They are not," I scoffed. Piper just rolled her eyes. "There's a difference between precious and just important."

"I know, I know," Piper replied.

"So, do you think we'll be able to pull off moving out by tomorrow?" I spoke up.

"Probably, at this rate. And I'm sure Steve will be over to help in the morning,"

"Can't doubt that,"

"Tell me about it. Do you think you'll be okay tonight, no nightmare?"

"I hope so, I mean, we haven't discovered anything else, and, I think the less I use my powers the better it gets."

"So, your saying, that, your powers are evil?"

"Possibly, I don't think they're necessarily evil, but, based off the fact that we can't find anything else, and, I've only had the wack-o power takeover thing while using my new powers, so, I think if I don't use them then I'll be okay."

"It makes sense, but, how are you so sure?"

"I don't know, it, it just feels right."

"Hm, I believe you. Just don't use your powers anymore and I guess tonight will be the true test."

"Yep," I exhaled, packing more stuff into a cardboard box.

* * *

Later that night, I was tossing and turning in the bed. I couldn't sleep, what if I had the dream again? I didn't want to experience something even worse, so I couldn't dare even blink.

"Okay, you haven't practiced your new powers in over 24 hours, so you should be able to sleep...right?" I whispered to myself, staring at the ceiling. "Just count sheep...come on, Alex, it's just sleep..."

The fear that was rushing through my veins was ridiculous...what I was so scared? What was there to be scared of? If anything, it's just in my head...right, just in my head...

* * *

My eyes shot open to darkness hours later, it was still night time, 2:03am as a matter of fact. "Aw come on," I huffed, sitting up. Although, my mind was numb. I hadn't had any dream, good or bad. But usually when I woke up late like this, I was up for a while. I wasn't the type of person to just lie back down and be asleep in seconds.

I felt the urge to use my powers, more like the powers were urging to use me. I still couldn't comprehend why these powers felt so evil; so wrong. They were certainly controlling me; especially more than I could handle. But I didn't understand, these abilities were clawing at me all of a sudden; and I'd used them my whole life. Was learning about the new ones causing all of this?

Thoughts continued to race through my mind; my eyes looking out the window at the skyline of city lights and the moonlight beaming in through the crack in the drapes.

* * *

The next thing I knew, I was dozing off, lying back down in bed. "No, please, no," I groaned, exhausted, but scared to fall asleep. I felt unconsciousness begin to flood my mind as my breathing slowed and my eyelids grew heavier. I was horrified to sleep, because there was a horrible sense in the back of my mind that this wasn't going to be the most peaceful slumber I've had. If anything, it was going to be the most painful.

* * *

_**That's a wrap guys! XD Thanks so so so so much for reading! :) Also just wanted to let you know I'll probably be able to wrap up this fanfic in about two to maybe three more chapters, but I'm leaning more towards two. Only time will tell. It's so sad :( I love this fanfiction so much, and all the characters and I'm beyond grateful for all of my followers, but every author needs a break. After I wrap up this and "Decoding Secrets" I'm either doing maybe a few one-shots on occasion if I think of some or nothing at all. I love writing and all, but it's a stressing process to keep up with all the time when you know you have readers to please but don't have a lot of spare time to write. Sorry for rambling, but I just wanted my readers to know that I'm not ditching because I want to, my mind just needs a break lol. **_

_**Anyways, please continue to favorite/follow/review and I'll update as soon as I can! :) I hope school is going well and wish you all the best! **_


	15. Chapter 15

**Shadowed Past **

**Chapter 15**

_**Hey guys! Sorry this is late, I've been having tons of projects lately AND I had a writer's block and just didn't know what to write about. Sorry! **__**And I saw a few reviews asking about a sequel, and as of now I don't have enough ideas for one, sorry! :( This doesn't mean there won't be one in the future [maybe, I honestly have no clue yet], but there just won't be one immediately after this series. Thanks for all the follow/favorites/reviews and thanks for reading! Enjoy! XD**_

* * *

_Screams. _

_Pain. _

_Despair. _

_Hatred. _

_And then all went silent. _

_She saw her reflection in the mirror. _

_All was calm. _

_Then, the war began. _

_The war against herself. _

_Blood ran. _

_Tears fell. _

_The symbol was burnt into her skin. _

_And then, in a flash, it was all over. _

* * *

I shot up in bed, breathing heavy, my heart racing.

Piper came darting in the room, already awake. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"I had another one." I panted.

She rushed to the bedside and sat down beside me.

"What about?"

"It was..."

"Alex, come on, you need to tell me,"

"It was about me, hurting myself, and it was the worst thing I'd ever dreamed of," I cried softly.

"Als," Piper sighed sympathetically, wrapping me into a tight hug as I sniffled a little.

I saw the scars on my wrists and shut my eyes tight, crying harder. "It was horrible, worse than Hell even..."

"Shh, Alex, listen to me, it's over, you stopped that years ago..."

"I know, but, I wasn't expecting my worst nightmare to be about the war I had against myself," I sobbed, my voice cracking as I spoke.

Piper just exhaled softly before hugging me tighter.

* * *

Later that morning, Piper was finally able to hush my cries and we both ate something and decided to watch TV for a little while, just taking it easy before packing up some more.

"Alex, are you sure you're going to be okay?" Piper spoke up after a while.

"Yeah, I think after clearing my thoughts for a while I'll be fine now. And with all the packing and moving we're doing today I certainly won't have the spare time to sit around and think about it."

"Okay, I'm just making sure." Piper grinned.

"I'm gonna use the bathroom real quick and then we could start packing if you want," I said.

"Sounds like a plan!" Piper said cheerfully.

I got up and went into the bathroom, getting a headache as soon as I saw my reflection. It wasn't long before sudden flashes of my nightmare began.

There was flashing as pieces of the dream covered my vision. I saw a symbol in one of the flashes, and it was surprisingly familiar.

After some more flashes of bright light I was thrown back into reality; my head throbbing with pain.

"Gosh..." I muttered. "What the..."

"Hey Als, you alright?" Piper called from the other side of the door.

"Yeah," I breathed. "I'm fine just a little headache."

"Okay, just checking," She said, clearly not believing me. I heard Piper's footsteps go back into the main room and I just kept looking into the mirror, double-checking and making sure I wasn't dreaming.

* * *

Piper and I continued to pack up more of our stuff and the main room was quickly filling up with boxes as the morning slowly passed.

"I'm surprised that Steve hasn't come by yet," Piper said with her head stuck in the fridge looking for a drink as I stacked up some more of our boxes.

"Well, he usually comes around..." I was interrupted by the doorbell. "Now." I grinned.

"Come in!" Piper yelled, hitting her head on the inside of the fridge. "Ow!" she hissed as Steve opened the door.

"Morning," He smiled.

"Morning," I grinned back.

"Good morning!" Piper yelled, finally backing out of the fridge; holding her head in pain.

"Why are you shouting?" Steve asked, confused.

"I just bumped my head in the fridge," Piper pouted like a little kid.

"Sorry," Steve muttered, embarrassed for asking.

"Steve," I laughed. "It's alright, Piper will be able to handle a little bump to the head."

He walked over and wrapped me in a hug, kissing my forehead. When he pulled back, he looked down at my face, and immediately he got a concerned look.

"What?" I asked.

"Did you have another bad night?"

"Why do you ask?"

"You just look tired, and I know you're not one for getting up early, Alex." Steve said.

"It wasn't the best night..." I sighed. "I'd rather not talk about it right now, I'll tell you later today. It's nothing personal, I really just don't want to think about it."

"I understand, it's not a problem." He smiled.

* * *

Steve began taking some of the boxes down into a car that Tony had let him borrow for the day, Steve knowing that Piper and I would need one, and Piper continued to pack up the last things that were in the apartment.

"So," Steve said as I slid another box into the backseat of the car.

"So," I chuckled.

"Are you eager to be moving out?"

"Totally," she smiled. "I mean nobody ever liked us there anyways. AND, we're moving to Stark Tower for crying out loud! Like, oh my gosh!"

Steve chuckled at her outburst before speaking, "Yeah, I guess not many people can say that can they?"

"Only _Avengers_ can," I grinned.

"And their sisters!" Piper called, running towards us with another box.

I just laughed at her silly gestures and put the box in the car. "So, is that it?"

"Yep, the only things left are the furniture, and, those were never ours to begin with."

"Awesome!" I high fived her.

"So, are we headed out?" Steve asked.

"In a few minutes, I'll go back upstairs, do one last run through and then we can hand the keys over for good." Piper said.

"I'll come, I want to say goodbye to the trash heap that we've lived in for years, it's got memories." I said.

"I'll wait here," Steve said. "Let you two have your moment."

"Thanks," I chuckled.

Piper and I made our way back upstairs and as soon as we walked into the apartment, all the memories began to flood back from when we first moved there. As a matter of fact, all of the memories flooded back to the day that our lives changed forever. It was a typical day at work, and we come home to a life-changing experience. If I remember correctly, that day went pretty good even before the agents showed up.

_"Alex! It's time to go!"_

_"Yeah-yeah, I'm coming."_

_"Come on we're gonna be late!"_

_"I'm slowly progressing my way to the door!"_

Piper and I went for our usual morning walk, Piper had her daily rant in the elevator about how I should become a super-hero with my powers...it felt so, long ago. But there was one thing that somehow still felt like yesterday, the day I met Steve.

_"Miss Cooper," _

_"Mr. Rogers," _

_"Just call me Steve." _

_"And you can call me Alex."_

And not to mention Steve and I's first date, I'll certainly never forget that one.

_"It's, beautiful," _

_"Not as pretty as your smile,"_

_"Oh, gosh, thanks," _

_"Still, I'm impressed, you got into a dress, that was a big step for you."_

_"Yeah, I guess so." _

All was fine until, he saw the scars...

_"Hey, what's on your arm?" _

_"Nothing," _

_"No, I saw marks on your arm, let me see,"_

_"See, just old marks, I used to have a problem, it's all over now," _

_"Problem? You mean you did that to yourself? With what?" _

_"Anything sharp,"_

_"Why?"_

_"Like I said, I had a problem, I guess I just thought it was the right thing to do at the time..."_

_"I still don't understand..."_

_"It's okay, trust me, my past is one long and depressing story."_

_"I've got time." _

I felt a small grin creep upon my lips as I was still gazing out into our bare apartment. That was the one true moment when; I may have not seen it then, but now; I realized that Steve actually cared for me. He wanted to hear my story, he wanted to help me. He loved me.

"Hey, Alex, you okay?" Piper said, snapping me back into reality.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just, memories." I grinned.

She gave me a very small, some-what depressing, grin before we began to walk around our bare apartment. Apparently both of us had just been staring into space, thinking about all the good times we had here.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but, I think I'm gonna miss the old place," Piper sighed.

"Me too," I chuckled.

"The noise complaints..." She started.

"That time you burnt the toast and set off the fire alarm..."

"The time when I dropped that water balloon out the window," Piper laughed.

"And it hit that poor man on the head..." I finished for her.

"I'm never forgetting that one!" She continued her laughter.

"I don't think I will either, Pipes," I smiled.

After she stopped laughing we took one last sweep of the place, making sure we had everything, before it was time to say goodbye to what felt like home.

"Well, I guess this is it." She sighed.

"Adios, old place." I said, starting my walk out.

"Yeah, adios." Piper said before following me.

* * *

After returning the keys, Piper and I headed out the doors for the last time of that old place.

The car ride was silent for a good two or three blocks, until Piper clearly couldn't take it anymore. "Alright that's it, we've got while left on this little trip across town and I can't take this silence anymore." She blurted out.

"I knew you were going to burst sooner or later, Pipes, I saw you fidgeting," I chuckled.

"Well what did you expect!? I'm not a car person!" She exclaimed cheerfully.

"Okay, so what do you want to do then?"

"Can we talk, please? Like, come on, there's gotta be something we can all talk about. How about that party, hmm? Alex, are you going to go shopping with me?"

"Piper," I hissed with clenched teeth, feeling heat rush to my cheeks.

Steve chuckled at my response, "What, you're worried about dressing up for the party? Alex, you look beautiful already in jeans and a t-shirt there's no need to wear a dress."

"Thanks," I grinned, blushing harder.

"Awww! I'm so shipping you guys!" Piper exclaimed with a fangirl voice.

"Shipping?" Steve asked, confused.

"It's like, when...Piper, care to explain?"

"It's when somebody likes two people paired together as a couple. For example, I love the fact that you and Alex are boyfriend-girlfriend, so, the verb for expressing said action is called shipping."

"You sound so intelligent when you word it that way..." I said.

"Exactly." Piper smiled proudly.

* * *

Once we arrived at Stark...well, Avengers Tower, Pepper came out to greet us.

"Yay! You guys are finally here!" She said cheerfully, giving us each a hug. "I'm so excited that you guys are all moving in!"

"So are we!" Piper squealed.

Piper and I talked to Pepper for a moment while Steve started unloading a couple of the boxes. I ran over to help him once it came to my senses that he'd actually started unpacking the car.

"I'm surprised we got all of this over here in one run," Steve said.

"Eh, Piper and I don't own that much. We only have a couple plates and a few eating utensils since we rarely cook food for ourselves," I chuckled.

"Really? I'm surprised, I thought one of you would be into cooking..."

"Are you joking? We can't even cook toast without causing the smoke detectors to go off." I laughed, thinking about the many times we actually did cause a full-building evacuation at three in the morning.

Steve and I began carrying the boxes inside and Piper quickly began to chime in after she was done talking to Pepper.

After about eighty trips up and down the elevator, we finally had all the boxes on our floor.

"Alright, I think that's everything." Steve sighed, putting the last box down.

"Thanks," I grinned.

"No problem, now it looks like I need to working on moving myself out next," He chuckled.

"Do you want some help?"

"No, you need to be moving yourself in anyways. I'll be fine, Als."

"Okay, just call me if you need anything," I said as Steve wrapped me into a tight hug.

"I promise I will," He chuckled, kissing the top of my head gently. "I love you," He smiled, pulling back.

"I love you more." I smiled softly.

Steve gave me a quick kiss on the lips before he left to go being moving himself in.

"Shipping it!" Piper squealed after he was gone.

"Oh Pipes," I sighed, moving to open one of the boxes.

"What? I'm just sayin'."

* * *

By nightfall, Piper and I had at least half of our stuff unpacked and in it's place. Steve had come by at least three times with boxes of his things, but he was going to stay at his apartment for the night since most of his stuff was still there.

Piper and I were both lying in our beds, relaxing. Moving was exhausting. It felt like were both having a sleepover as teenagers as a matter of fact. Both of us lying there, awake, in the dark, just talking every now and then about the good times. That' s just how sleepovers seemed to go most of the time according to my memory.

"Hey, you think you're gonna be alright tonight, about the nightmares?" Piper finally spoke up.

"I hope so," I muttered.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really, no offense or anything."

"It's okay, I was just making sure." she responded.

Suddenly, a flash of the images from the nightmare took over my mind. "Ah, geez," I muttered; sitting up.

"What's wrong?"

"Flashbacks," I grunted.

"Are they scary?"

"No, really familiar actually. There's this symbol I keep seeing. I know I've seen it somewhere before, but, I can't put my finger on it."

"Weird...was it in your mother's book?"

"I don't think so...oh, crud! Where did I see that thing before!?" I huffed, hopping out of bed and flipping the lamp on.

"Do you want to check the book?" Piper asked, getting up as well.

"No, I mean, maybe, we'll...I don't know!"

"Calm down, Alex, we'll figure this out so you can get some rest tonight." Piper said reassuringly.

I sat down on the couch, putting my hands over my face. I was going insane. _Look what these wack-o powers had done to me_.

"Alex!" Piper practically screamed.

"What?!" I said, looking up.

"Your ring! It's glowing!"

"Oh my gosh!" I shouted, slipping it off my finger and dropping onto the floor. We both studied the ring closely as the glowing dimmed.

Piper hesitated before picking it up. "That, was crazy."

"I know...It's never done that before, why would it do it now?"

"Wait, see, there's a little symbol on the side..." Piper said, showing me the etching into the side of the ring.

"That's it!" I yelped.

"What?"

"The symbol! From the nightmare!"

"Do you think the ring is cursed?" Piper asked.

"I don't know...it would make sense...but, why would it be in my mom's grave as a clue from her?"

"We never figured that out for sure, though. This grave, more like tomb, was full of skeletons. Not one single coffin."

"And your point is...?" I trailed off, lost.

"What if that psycho robot-guy who kidnapped you set this whole thing up just to get you to put on this fake ring just so it would tamper with your powers, make you go crazy and then possibly lose your abilities over all?"

"That's actually a really good point, but, I don't know..."

"Alex! Think about it! Fake grave! Set up! The ring was just so we'd fall into his trap! The book was probably actually hers, it had to be, but he certainly had something to do with this ring!" Piper shouted.

"Shh, calm down." I chuckled.

"Okay, here's what I think we should do. Let's go to sleep, see if I have a bad dream or not. If I don't, the ring's cursed. If it is, we'll do some more digging tomorrow, deal?"

"Deal, I'm exhausted." Piper said, dropping the ring into the dish on the coffee table.

* * *

Piper was asleep in seconds after we turned the lights out, but I was still uncomfortable about actually trying to sleep still. Those nightmares had been pretty scarring lately.

Suddenly, I was pulled out of my own thoughts when the temperature of the room began to drop. "Geesh, why's it so cold in here?"

I sat up and looked around, quickly gasping when I saw a woman standing in the middle of the room. "Who are you?!" I screamed.

"Alex! Please, shh, it's only me."

"M-Mom?" I studdered. _There was no way..._

"Yes, it's me, and I don't have much energy to talk long, but I had to let you know about what's going on."

"What do you mean?" I whispered, climbing down from the bed.

"Piper was right. The trick, it wasn't set up by me. _He _did it. As revenge, as soon as he knew about you, he knew that when you came of age you'd easily beat his invention, so he set up everything."

"The ring, too?"

"I'm afraid so."

I felt tears welt up in my own eyes. I felt so stupid, how could I have been so naïve to seriously think my mom would leave all those clues for me.

"I must go, my love."

"Mom," I breathed, a tear running down my cheek.

Her ghostly hand brushed my cheek gently. She looked so noble and young, I'd never actually seen her before. "I love you."

"I love you too," I choked a sob softly, biting my cheek. She disappeared, and I wasn't sure what I was freaking out about more, the fact that I'd just met my mother as a ghost, or the fact that I'd been stupid enough that I'd fallen for that whole trick.

* * *

_**So guys, that's a wrap for that chapter! Sorry if it took so long to get out, stupid school. :( Anyways, I really hope you're liking the way I'm ending all of this, I'm trying to give you guys the best ending I possibly can since this is literally the longest fan-fic I've ever kept up with! **_

_**I think that the next chapter might be the finale, I'll have to see. If not it will probably be the one after that :( It makes me so sad! I loved writing this story! I'll probably pop out a few one-shots here and there after I wrap up my other Avengers fan-fic, but other than that I'm not writing a chaptered story for a long time lol. I need a break! **_

_**In case I don't get the next chapter published before, I hope you all have a great Halloween! **_

_**Thanks for reading and PLEASE review! :D**_


	16. Chapter 16: Forvigen (FINALE)

**Shadowed Past **

**Chapter 16: _Forgiven._ [FINALE]**

**_Hey everyone! I am SO SO SO sorry this took so long! It is probably the longest chapter I've ever published, and I didn't have a lot of time over the week because of school. :( So, I sadly inform you that this is the finale :( I was sure to read it over and make sure that this would be the best ending ever so I wouldn't be that horrible author to rip you guys off especially after you've all waited patiently for my updates and followed along with the story for so long! This is literally the longest and most popular fanfiction I've ever worked with and I'm so glad I published it! :) _**

**_So, on with the story! Enjoy! XD_**

* * *

My eyes fluttered open to sunlight pouring into the room. It felt weird waking up to a clean, white ceiling and not the old beat up one at the apartment after all of these years. I sat up and yawned, feeling beyond relaxed from sleeping on a brand new bed. There wasn't a sign of Piper anywhere, she was probably checking out the tower...I hoped.

I suddenly remembered what had happened last night. Was that really my mom, or was it a dream?

I saw the ring still in the dish on the coffee table and remembered everything...it _had _to have been real.

But, did that mean that, all of that was just my fault? I'd caused this whole mess because I stuck my nose into something I shouldn't have?

It was, _all_, my fault.

My thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a knock on the door. "Alex? It's Steve, are you awake yet?"

"Come in!" I called as loud as my voice would let me, was much softer than I'd anticipated.

"Hey," he flashed a bright smile as he opened the door from across the apartment.

"Hi," I tried my best to smile as I hopped down from the bed.

"Is something wrong?" He asked, wrapping his arms around the small of my back and pulling me close to him.

"I just had a long night, but I'm okay."

"Alex, that's not your okay face."

"Don't worry about it."

"I'm going to worry my head off about it unless you tell me," He retorted, leaning his forehead to mine.

"I'm just really stupid, I messed up everything." I finally sighed, fighting back tears.

"Als, don't say that, you didn't mess up anything."

"Yes I did, Steve. I ruined everything and can't fix it," I whispered, feeling my throat tense up and a tear slide down my cheek.

"Alex," Steve sighed, his heart crushed to see this. "You didn't mess up anything, I promise."

I just continued to cry softly as he held my tighter against his chest. He rubbed my back soothingly and after a while softly stroked my hair to try and calm me down. "I'm such a failure," I whispered.

"No you're not," Steve replied sternly, his deep voice rumbling in his chest. "You're the most beautiful dame, I mean, girl, I've ever met. And when you showed me your arms that night, and after I understood what you did to yourself, I wanted to cry, Als. Every single night I lay awake in fear that you're not sleeping, that you're locked in the bathroom hurting yourself again, because, Alex, I love you, more than anyone, ever. I would die if you got hurt, I wouldn't be able to live anymore if something happened to you. Please, just, don't take this out on yourself. You're too precious to be this broken."

I pulled back from his tight embrace and looked up at him thought teary eyes. "Steve, I love you." I whimpered with a broken voice from crying.

"I love you more," Steve replied. He held the back of my head softly and pulled me in for a kiss on the lips. Steve and I had kissed many times, but this one felt different. It didn't feel like a simple kiss goodbye or hello, it felt like two puzzle pieces had just been linked together and they couldn't be separated, ever.

We eventually pulled back and rested our foreheads gently together. I wasn't crying anymore, but my face was still wet from tears and the knot was still in my throat. "As long as I'm around, nothing bad is going to happen to you. I promise."

I just nodded softly in response. He wiped the tears off my cheeks softly before speaking, "Come on, let's go relax for a little while."

Steve sat with me on the couch and he stroked my hair softly. "I'm sorry," I finally spat out after what felt like forever in silence.

"There's nothing to be sorry about, Alex." Steve said calmingly, kissing my forehead again. I had my head rested softly against his chest and I could hear the soft beating of his heart.

My body was still aching from all of the crying, and the tip of my nose was still red. I eventually got lost in the sound of his heart and felt my eyes grow heavy, maybe a nap would get it off of my mind.

* * *

_**Third Person POV**_

Steve felt as Alex's muscles slowly relaxed and her breathing calm until finally she'd drifted off to sleep. He was heartbroken to see her like this, he didn't understand how she took everything out on herself like this. But he knew that all's he could do for her was be there for here, and make sure that she knew how much she meant to him.

* * *

Piper had run out to the store as a matter of fact, she wanted to surprise Alex with a nice outfit for the big party at the tower which was only a day away now. She knew how much Alex hated shopping, so Piper just wanted to find something that Alex would fall in love with and be happy to wear.

After a few hours of looking around, Piper finally stumbled across a black Sherri Hill prom dress that had sleeves, a silky skirt that fell a little below mid-thigh and a belt with a vine design on it. _Alex should love this..._ Piper thought._ Especially because of the sleeves. She hates showing her arms, especially around people that don't know her._

* * *

_**First Person POV**_

I woke up to Steve's arm wrapped around me, and a blanket thrown over my legs. I slowly began to look around, wondering how long I'd been asleep.

"Hey, you're up." Steve said softly.

"Yeah...how long was I asleep?"

"A while...I think you needed it. You feel any better?"

"I guess...I don't know." I moped, relaxing back into his embrace.

"It wasn't your fault, Als."

"I know...I just, sometimes, the memories come crawling back. And those nightmares didn't help."

"How did that ring give you those nightmares anyways?"

"I don't know, some kind of weird mojo." I responded.

"Yeah, but, it was like, personalized to target your worst fears and weaken you. I just don't understand..."

"That's kind of what wacko mojo is," I chuckled. "It can do stuff like that. Like black magic almost." I paused for a second when suddenly an idea came to me that made me fly up and dart across the room.

"Alex? Where are you going?" Steve called, confused at my sudden movement.

"I just need the laptop, I've got a little research to do." I said, sitting back down next to him. I flipped the laptop open and started it up.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"I've heard about these symbols before, they can magnify a person's thoughts and fears and cause them to go completely insane, I read it in a book once."

"And...your point?"

"I think that it's the symbol engraved into the underside of that ring. And that's why I was having the nightmares. That freak Dexter made my mother's fake grave just so that one day I'd come across it and find that ring, and the book, and use them both at the same time. And then, the use of my new powers would be thrown out of control by the mojo in that ring, and cause me to have the nightmares about it and eventually, go crazy."

"How are you so sure about this?"

"Some things just come from the gut." I sighed, beginning to type search terms once the webpage came up. I scrolled down the page and scanned the words until I finally found my answer. Chills shot down my spine when I realized that I was right. The ring was the culprit behind the nightmares.

I was silent. I couldn't bear it. _How could you be so stupid, Alex? _

"Als, it's gonna be okay, I promise." Steve said, wrapping his arms around my waste and kissing the top of my head.

I shut the laptop and looked up into Steve's blue eyes, getting lost in them. "I know, I've got my superhero right here with me." I smiled softly.

"I love you," Steve responded, wrapping me in a tight hug.

"I love you too. Now, let's go take care of this."

"What are we doing exactly?" He said as we pulled back from the hug.

"Raising the flames. I'm not letting this thing see the light of another day and risk it falling into the wrong hands." I said, picking up the ring. "Don't you have a fireplace in your apartment?"

"Yeah..."

"Alright, that's perfect. Let's go burn this little piece of death."

* * *

I watched as the flames burnt the sliver of the ring with relief. The heat of the fire wrapped itself around the metal almost instantly, like it was a beast devouring it's last meal before death.

"You ready to head out?" Steve asked.

"No, I'm going to watch this thing burn until it's ashes." I said coldly.

"Looks like we're going to be waiting a while then," Steve chuckled, not believing me at first. "Oh, you're being serious?"

"Dead serious."

"Oh, well, let's sit then...or something, I can't help but offer..." he muttered awkwardly.

"Thanks, Steve." I smiled, kissing his cheek. Heat rushed to his face as I walked over and sat on his couch, leaning forward to rest my elbows on my knees, then resting my chin in my palms. He walked over and sat down next to me, contently watching the fire as well.

My gaze was interrupted when Steve kissed my cheek, causing my gaze to turn to him. My violet eyes were instantly pierced with his icy blue ones. Steve's eyes were so different, I could just feel the pain he'd felt by looking into his eyes. All the people that he had to watch die, especially the ones he loved; the pain, the heartbreak, the awkward, fear of socializing side of him, everything.

It was then, that it finally came to me. Steve and I were _meant _for each other.

He understood why my pain, he understood my hurt, my heartbreak. My agony, the years I'd spent wasting away, lost in my own pain. I could never forget that feeling, "The Dark Ages" is what Piper and I called them sometimes. When I was a complete wreck, like there was nothing to hold onto anymore. The hurt was carved into my brain until death, that was for sure. I'll never forget what it felt like to be burning in my own Hell-flames...some flames that I caused myself, some caused by other people.

"Alex?" Steve finally spoke up. I quickly noticed that his expression was concerned.

"Yeah?" I said softly.

"I want you to know, that I'm always here for you."

"Okay," I replied, biting my lip and nodding softly. I then realized that he could see the same thing in my eyes like what I saw in his.

He understood my past, my dark, _shadowed past_. And he _loved_ me for it.

* * *

Later that afternoon, awhile after I'd finally seen the ring melt away Steve and were back in Piper and I's apartment when Piper got back, holding a few shopping bags in her arms.

"Hey!" She called cheerfully.

"Hola!" I called back. "Where on earth have you been?"

"No where..." She fibbed.

"Are those bags from the mall? Piper, seriously?"

"Listen, I was only getting things for tomorrow and tomorrow only..." She replied.

The party. I'd completely forgotten about it...oh joy...socializing. "Piper, if you bought me a dress..." I started.

"Relax, you'll like everything I bought you. I promise. Do you want to go ahead a try them on?"

"Them?!" I exclaimed in emotional pain.

"Calm youself! But Steve, do you mind scooting until after she's done?"

"Uh, no, it won't be an issue." He started awkwardly.

"Wait, why does he have to leave?"

"The groom can't see his bride until the wedding day once he's at the church,"

"But, we're not getting married..." I muttered, confused.

"No, but I mean that Steve can't see you in your best attire until the party, it has to be special." Piper stated.

"Fine, I'll make it quick, I promise." I said to Steve before giving him a quick peck on the lips.

"Don't rush," He smiled before leaving.

"Okay, Piper, this better be good or else..." I said.

Without any words, she pulled out a black dress and a pair of black lace tights. "Go try these on with your combat boots, and I promise you that you'll love it."

"And If I don't?"

"You wear your jeans and a band tee shirt to the party. Now go!" She said cheerfully.

"Fine," I huffed, marching my way to the bathroom.

* * *

Once I'd gotten the whole outfit on, I stepped back and looked at myself in the mirror closely.

"Whoa...maybe she was right for once..." I muttered, taking in the gorgeous dress that Piper must've spent a bomb on. I loved the sleeves, and the black of course. And the tights were just so pretty, and to top it off, I could still wear my boots with it all. I got a small grin on my face before I walked out to show the outfit to Piper.

"Als! I love it!" she squealed running up to me.

"Thanks..." I smiled.

"But, do you love it?"

"Well..." I trailed off.

"What don't you like about it?"

"Nothing! Piper I love it!" I laughed.

"Really?!"

"Yes! Thank you so much!"

"It's no problem," Piper smiled before wrapping me in a hug. "Now, go get out of that before Steve sees you in it."

"Sounds like a plan." I grinned.

"And hey, quick thing I wanted to ask you about..." Piper said.

"Sure, anything."

"I know, that you and Steve have only known each other for like a little under a year, but, and just a think about this with me here, if you and Steve ever had children..."

"Piper! Don't even mention that!"

"Listen! It's a serious question!" She called as I started back towards the bathroom. I stopped and turned around expecting the worst.

"Okay, just, say it." I sighed.

"Wouldn't your children be like crazy super babies?! Like, think about it! You and your fancy force-field energy DNA mixed with his superhuman DNA, like, those would be some crazy babies!"

"Piper, that's a lovely thought, but I really don't think I'd ever have kids, you know me. It would be way to hard to raise a child into that kind of life, and, to top it off, who would raise it? I mean, I don't know, that's a long ways away, but..."

"I didn't mean to trouble you, It had just been on my mind for so long!" Piper laughed.

"It's not your fault. Just the thought...I mean look at us, we're so old!" I chuckled.

"I know right! Like, oh my gosh what happened?!"

We both shared a good laugh before calming down.

"Well, I'm gonna get changed. Good laugh, though." I smiled.

"Yeah, good one," Piper sighed, still catching her breath from laughing.

* * *

The rest of the day seemed to fly by, and before I knew it, it was already the next day, and it was time for the party. Piper had just helped me do my hair, which, I was still getting used to. It now hung in loose curls around my shoulders thanks to Piper's cosmetic skills. I had already put on my dress and other accessories from earlier, and I was actually really excited for this party. I've never been a social butterfly before, but these guys were like my family. What wasn't there to be excited about?

"Alex! It's time to go!" Piper called.

"Yeah-yeah, I'm coming." I sighed. I was still fooling around with small things like my hair and the way my necklace looked in the mirror.

"Come on we're gonna be late!"

"I'm slowly progessing my way towards the door!" I called, ruffling my hair one last time before opening the door.

"There you are! Finally! What did you find Narnia in there?"

"No, I was just making sure that I looked okay." I said.

"You look beautiful, now let's get a move on. Your super soldier's waiting for you." Piper smiled as we walked out the door.

As soon as we were in the hallway, I could hear the music thumping from a few floors down.

"Geesh, Tony must be going all out." I muttered.

"Tell me about it." Piper responded.

* * *

As soon as Piper and I entered the main room where Tony was having the party, everyone stopped and looked at us. My eyes swept across the room, and it didn't take me long to lock eyes with Steve's icy blue ones. I felt a small grin creep upon my lips as everyone resumed talking and doing whatever it was they were in the middle of. There were more people there than I'd expected. It certainly just wasn't the Avengers. I noticed Thor was talking to Jane, who he'd mentioned to me before. I spotted a few other people who I didn't know their names too. My thoughts of the people in the room got inturrpeted when Steve came walking over to me.

"You look...amazing," He breathed, smiling.

"Oh, come on, don't lie to me. I look ridiculous."

He sighed before speaking, "You're beautiful, Alex. Trust me when I say that."

I blushed softly. "Thanks, Steve." I grinned.

He smiled brighter, and just then Tony walked up. "I'd hate to interrupt this extremely awkward stare down but, Alex, there's some people who'd like to meet you."

"Okay, just lead the way, Stark." I chuckled.

We walked over to the bar and he introduced me first to his friend, Colonel James Rhodes, otherwise known as the Iron Patriot to most people out there.

"It's nice to finally meet you, I've heard a lot about what you can do, and you're just crazy awesome," he chuckled, shaking my hand.

"Thanks, it just comes naturally." I teased.

Pepper suddenly ran over to me and squeezed me into a tight hug. "You made it! I was getting worried when I didn't see you guys down here earlier! Oh my gosh I just love your dress!" she said excitedly, pulling me into another hug before I could even respond.

As Pepper and I began talking, Clint walked up to us. I quickly noticed he was dressed up far more than I'd ever seen before, it was actually kind of amusing.

"Dude, I don't think I've ever seen you this fancy!" I called over the loud music.

"Hey, same to you, like, are you dressing up all nice for a certain capsicle over there?"

I looked over my shoulder to see that Steve was still talking to Tony and responded, "No! Piper bought it for me and I felt the need to wear it."

"Uh huh, right," he muttered.

"I hate you!" I called playfully, hitting him softly on the arm.

"But seriously, you do look nice. I'll give you that much." Clint grinned.

"Thanks," I sighed sarcastically. "You don't look to shabby yourself, old man."

"I'm not the old one!" He called as I walked away.

"Sure!" I called back.

I walked up to Steve with a smile on my face. "What are you two arguing about?"

"He thinks that the music is bad." Tony spat, pointing at Steve.

"I never said it was bad, I just said I didn't like it."

"No, you specifically said you hated the music. I heard you. I can have Jarvis replay the audio later." Tony replied, taking a sip of his drink.

"I did not!" Steve grunted.

"Okay, Steve, just calm down," I said, wrapping his hand around mine. "Tony, just, make sure that Clint doesn't go to the extreme to prank me later, sound good?"

"What do you mean?" Tony asked.

"I called him an old man, so I'm expecting revenge."

"But capsicle's the old one..."

"I know! It was just a joke! Geesh! Why is everybody so literal around here!?" I ranted.

Suddenly Thor walked up with Jane and another girl who's name I had yet to learn.

"Alex, I presume you have been enjoying this celebration?" Thor said, shaking my hand.

"Very much, how about you?" I smiled.

"It's quite entertaining, and it's nice to be taking a break from Asgardian warfare. I'd like you to meet Jane, my woman of interest."

"Hi, I'm Alex," I chuckled, shaking her hand as well. I couldn't help but laugh at the way Thor talked. It was so fancy and medieval-like.

"It's nice to meet you. I'm Jane, and this is my intern Darcy," Jane said.

"Wow, I'm still only referred to as intern? Harsh." Darcy muttered before shaking my hand. "Nice to meet you, Alex."

"Nice to meet you too." I smiled.

"Hold up! You're that chick with the force field thingies! Can you put me in one?! I've seen you on TV and that was so awesome!"

"Uh, sure, just, stand still," I grinned. I was actually nervous, I hadn't used my powers for what felt like forever, with the nightmares and everything especially. I was still horrified they would spiral out of control, even thought I'd gotten rid of the ring and stopped practicing the forces of the elements.

I held my concentration and a purple force field flickered into place around Darcy.

"This is so awesome!" she shouted, her voice echoing in the bubble. I dropped the field and she stepped out.

"How do you do that?" Jane asked.

"I was born with it," I sighed. "Family things, they can be, insane."

"I understand that, but, I don't get how you do it, your strings of DNA must be so unique..." she trailed off.

"I'm just a strange person," I shrugged.

"And you're a beautifully strange person," Steve said, smiling at me. I grinned back up at him and felt the blush creep across my cheeks.

"Wait, are you like, his?" Darcy asked, pointing to Steve.

"Yeah, I am," I blushed as Steve wrapped his arm around me.

"That is so adorable!" Darcy squealed. She already reminded me of Piper, just less girly and more obnoxious, but in a good way.

After a few more minutes of chatting, Steve nudged my arm. "Hey, can I show you something?"

"Uh, sure!" I said cheerfully.

Darcy winked at me as Steve and I walked away. I was already beginning to like her, it's like I'd made friends with Piper's identical twin, in a personality way.

* * *

Steve led me into the elevator, and I was deathly curious as to where he was taking me, and where we were going.

"Where are we going?" I eventually blurted out.

"You'll see." He smiled.

"You know how I hate surprises!"

"I promise you'll love this one."

* * *

The elevator finally stopped at very top of the tower and we walked onto the roof.

"The roof? This is my surprise?" I grinned jokingly.

"Not all of it, just wait."

He walked over and turned on a small radio, and it started softly playing one of my absolute favorite songs, _Goodbye Agony _by Black Veil Brides.

My face lit up at the sound, "How did you know that was my favorite?" I smiled as he walked back over to me.

"Piper," He grinned.

"Oh, Pipes..." I sighed.

"Alex, would you do the honor of sharing a dance with me?" Steve said, pulling out a single white rose and handing it to me.

I almost wanted to cry, I couldn't believe that a man like him, Steve Rogers, _Captain America_, loved me. "Yes," I smiled.

He wrapped his arms around my waist gently, and I rested my arms on his shoulders. We started to slow dance just as the lyrics started.

_Heaven's gone, the battle's won, I had to say goodbye. _

_Lived and learned from every fable, written by your mind. _

_And I wonder how to move on, from I all I had inside. _

_Place my cards upon the table, in blood I draw the line. _

_I've given all my pride. _

_(Chorus) _

_Living a life of misery, always there just underneath. _

_Haunting me, quietly alone. _

_It's killing me, killing me; _

_Dead and gone, what's done is done, you were all I had become. _

_I'm letting go of what I once believed; _

_So Goodbye Agony..._

I listened to the song closely as I danced with Steve. I just wanted sing a long, but I couldn't make a fool of myself. I didn't want to ruin the moment, this moment. This song always reminded me of the battle I'd always seemed to have against myself. This war, that just didn't seem to end. But Steve was slowly and surely helping me through it, I still didn't really have any self esteem, but, I felt, alive.

"You know, I think I know why this is your favorite song," Steve said, looking down at me.

I swallowed before speaking, "Because it's Black Veil Brides?" I smiled cheekily.

"I think you know why, too."

"I do, I just, it's relatable, and, it's a good song. Period." I said.

Steve grinned at my response. "I love you so much, Alex."

"I love you more." I blushed.

He dipped down and kissed me softly on the lips, and I'd never felt more loved in my entire life.

Once we pulled back, I looked into his icy blue eyes yet again. "Thank you," I practically whispered.

"For what?"

"Saving me."

Without words, he wrapped me in a tight hug, and the song rang out it's end.

_Living a life of misery; _

_Always there, just underneath. _

_Haunting me, quietly alone;_

_It's killing me, killing me. _

_Dead and gone, what's done is done, you were all I had become. _

_I'm letting go, of what I once believed; _

_So Goodbye Agony; _

_Goodbye Agony; _

_Goodbye Agony. _

* * *

**_First Person POV (Alex)_**

_"Years past, battles were fought, and battles were won. Each of us earned a few more battle scars, some taken with pride, others with shame. Lives had been saved, and some had been lost...mine, in particular. The old Alex, Alexis Dawn Cooper; was long gone. Alex died years ago, when a certain person, a man, came into light. His name was Steve; Steven Rogers. He was the person responsible for the death of Alexis Dawn Cooper, and no, it wasn't a painful death. It wasn't even murder...it was more of putting her to rest. Lying her down, on her bed of roses, to rest after her hard life of self-hatred. But the death of this Alex, brought the new Alex to life. He rose her from the dead, the real Alex, the Alex that had been there all along...but was too afraid to come out of her shell; too afraid to love. Steve saved her, the true and beloved Alex. The Alex that knew how to love, love herself, others, and knew that she could trust in those who she loved. Her name is now Alexis Dawn Rogers; The Protector Of Humanity, The Seventh Avenger." _

"Hey, what are you up to?"

"Uh, nothing, I just..." I mumbled, shutting my notebook.

"Are you writing another story?" Steve asked, sitting down next to me.

"Well, this one's more a biography I guess." I blushed.

"You know I love your writing, Als."

"I do, I do, I just, I guess this one's more of a diary."

"I understand, just tell me if you're feeling upset, okay?" Steve said, wrapping my left hand in his.

I sighed before speaking, "I told you, that Alex is way gone, she's in her grave."

"I know, I just, want to make sure that she doesn't come back and haunt you."

"I don't think she will, not with Captain America around."

"Hmm, we'll see about that one." Steve chuckled.

I smiled and looked down at my hand, my silver wedding ring glistened in the light like nothing else I'd ever seen before. "It's so beautiful, Steve."

"That's why it made me think of you."

I grinned and looked up into Steve's eyes. "I love you."

"I love you more." Steve muttered softly against my lips before kissing me.

When we pulled back, I was reminded the one thing that had always been on my arm since before the new Alex was risen; it was my tattoo; in small, fancy black letters that read:

_Forgiven._

* * *

_**THAT'S A FLIPPING WRAP! THE AMOUNT OF FLUFF IN THIS CHAPTER IS LIKE REDICULOUS BUT I TYPED IT ANYWAYS XD **_

_**Did I wrap this up good? I hope I did! I gave it a fluffy happy ending where Steve and Alex are officially married and everyone's like one big happy family! :D All the evil powers and junk are gone, they got rid of the ring that was making Alex's powers and nightmares go all wack-o, and basically Steve made Alex finally realize that she's perfect the way she is and that she's got a family. #FLUFF XD**_

_**So, if you got super confused, that paragraph in italics was Alex writing out how Steve saved her from her old self, the "old Alex" that hated herself and wouldn't give herself any credit. And she was writing about how he helped make her realize that she was amazing and didn't deserve to be treated so harshly (by herself) and all the fluffy joyfulness that comes with OC fanfics. Does that make any sense? I hope it does, I tried my best to have it make sense lol. **_

_**Anyways, I cannot thank you ALL enough for SO MANY follows/favorites and reviews through this ENTIRE story! I know that I'm like the worst updater ever, but you guys were just amazing in waiting it out and I thank you so much for that! SO THANK YOU! :D **_

_**So, with this ending author's note full of thank you's, I must with a heavy heart say my farewell. I'll still be writing fanfics, but I'm sticking with one-shots for a while and taking a chaptered story break. School is just so stupid and gives me like no time to update or write anything :( I don't want to have to make more people suffer my long updating unless it's like a crazy awesome story and just has to be published lol.**_

_**In the end, **_

_**Thank you all for being such amazing followers. You're all just awesome! XD **_

**_-Savplanet_ **


	17. Shadowed Past II PREVIEW

**Shadowed Past: Visions of Affliction **

**Sneak Peek**

_**Hello again! :) I know it's been a while, and I wasn't sure if was ever going to do a sequel to this...but, SURPRISE! :D I know there were multiple asks for a sequel, and after seeing Age of Ultron the gears in my head really started spinning again. That sounds way more cliche than I pictured, but oh well. There will be some spoilers, so if you haven't seen the film I don't recommend reading the sequel until you do. **_

_**I feel that in the first story it was basically just Steve and Alex. Well, it was for the most past. And Piper. So I plan for this sequel to really dig deeper into Alex's relationships with the other characters. **_

_**It's going to take place after Age of Ultron, but it's going to be filled with flashbacks from when Alex fought the battle with the Avengers. So the timeline so far is that: **_

**_The Avengers (movie) - Shadowed Past (fic) - Avengers: Age of Ultron (movie) - Shadowed Past: Visions of Affliction (fic sequel) _**

**_And of course all of the other movies are in there two, but this plot focuses mostly around the Avengers-verse._**

**_So, here's a little "preview" (basically a decent chunk of the first chapter to give you guys an idea of what this story will look like). _**

**_I know the guidelines say you're not supposed to do this, but technically, I'm only doing this so you guys will know to look for a sequel and it's at the end of a 16-chapter fanfiction, not by itself. _**

**_So, here it is! I'll have chapter one up very soon! ;) _**

* * *

_Chills ran through my body as I felt the steady inhales of freezing air fill my lungs. Yet I still exhaled small puffs of steam, signaling warm air leaving my body. My skin was pale, practically as white as the snow beneath my feet, except for the redness of my cheeks and nose from exposure to the low temperatures._

_For a second, I heard nothing but silence. No bombs had been launched, there was no screaming of the wounded falling to the ground...nothing._

_My eyes scanned the snow-dusted forest. There was no movement. No sign of life._

_Until all of a sudden, the sound of a bullet leaving the barrel of its gun echoed off the trees. I looked up just in time to catch the bullet inside of a small purple sphere of force fields, only inches from my face. The bullet was aimed for the dead center of my skull between my eyes. I let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding before letting the bullet fall to the ground._

_And then the battle seemed to magically reappear._

_Bullets hit and tore at the bark of trees, the ground rumbled from Bruce rampaging around and bombs ripping apart the ground, and the cries of the wounded filled the air again._

_"Alex! Heads up!" Steve shouted._

_I spun around just in time to catch his shield, using it to wipe out many of the enemy's men beginning to surround me._

_Steve fought his way to my side, literally, and I handed him his shield back. "Thanks for letting my borrow it." I panted._

_We began jogging through the forest to catch up with the others as our conversation carried on._

_"No problem. You know, that suit really works for you. It looks nice." Steve said._

_"Was that a compliment, captain?" I teased._

_"That's up to you to decide, Mrs. Rogers."_

_"This is why superheroes don't date." Natasha muttered over the speaker._

_"Seriously, save it for the bed, lovebirds." Tony scoffed._

_I smiled, actually enjoying their bickering for once. My new suit did look better than the old one. The old suit: black, leather, had the tears patched with red cloth to look like scars? That's the one. I liked it, but, I felt...vulnerable with it on. The new one was still black and leather, much like Natasha's and every other SHIELD agent's ever. But, this one didn't have the rips and tears like the old one. It didn't have the scars like I used to. A new suit for a new me. It had multiple belts, and a couple of different holsters for guns. I wore my combat boots with the suit to complete it._

_My thoughts were scrambled when I saw the enemy lines rapidly approaching._

_"Go get 'em, cap!" I called as Steve ran to the right, and I ran to the left._

_I began taking out enemy soldiers with my force fields as quick as possible._

_The cold air continued to burn in my lungs with every breath, every pant._

_My mind continued to wander, and slowly my physical acts separated from my thoughts. I continued to punch, kick, throw fields, but my mind was completely somewhere else. The fight was implanted into the commander center of my brain, like how a robot's commands are programmed into it's system. I fought strong, but my mind took a break. My thoughts were filled with the memories from my life before I met Steve. The self harm, the fear, the loneliness. I felt the scars burn on my arms, forever etched into my delicate skin._

_And then, I was hit._

_A huge blow to the head, flinging my body backwards until it met harshly with the bark of a tree. One of many in the cold winters forest._

_They all surrounded me, attacking my body in every which way. Blood began to surface, and yet I was still caught in such a daze, I couldn't fight back. I was motionless in the white, and I felt the pain surging through every nerve, spiking and flailing to unspeakable levels of agony. My voice was numb; I was unable to scream for help. I felt the fear wash over the pain, only contributing to the pure panic taking over my being._

And then I woke up.


End file.
